“My living room looks like a bomb went off,” Jonny Ribeiro tells me over Zoom from his East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment. His roommate has just moved out and everything is in flux. But that’s nothing new for Jonny, a designer, collector, and dealer who is used to an ever-evolving domestic landscape. Most of what you see in his cozy city apartment is for sale.

Jonny developed an eye for old stuff while working in store development at Ralph Lauren. His job was to canvas flea markets—like Brimfield, in Massachusetts; Elephant’s Trunk, in Connecticut; and Round Top, in Texas—for objects and furniture to fill the heavily stylized stores. “I learned the importance of layers, of telling a story,” he says of the experience that laid the groundwork for a passionate collecting practice, in which he gravitates toward sculptural pieces by unknown makers that show wear and history. After Ralph Lauren, he worked for interior designer Sara Story for a few years, learning the ins and outs of crafting residential spaces. But just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he went out on his own, booking a few freelance design projects, amping up the buying and selling, and even designing some furniture of his own.