Pieces of Inspiration: Vintage Adventures Reaches National Clientele With Unique Artwork

PIECES OF INSPIRATION

VINTAGE ADVENTURES REACHES NATIONAL CLIENTELE WITH UNIQUE ARTWORK

Writer / Seth Johnson Photographer / Kerch Creative

In less than a year, Amie and Chris Knuckles have seen their Vintage Adventures brand grow from a small, hyperlocal business to a thriving endeavor that’s now shipping across the country.

“Our Etsy shop is going crazy,” Amie says. “We do nothing but pack boxes and ship artwork out of our home. We made a map of the United States when we first started, and I wanted to put a tack in every state we sold to. Since July, the only three states we haven’t sold to are Montana, Wyoming and Maine.”

With a brick-and-mortar space located at the Logan Village Mall in downtown Noblesville, Vintage Adventures specializes in making vintage-inspired, handcrafted wall art and home decor. Due to increased demand, Amie and Chris have brought on family to help with the daily workload, including Amie’s children Keera, Zack and Zander as well as her mother Debby, making Vintage Adventures a true family-owned and -operated business.

Chris and Amie’s first foray into home design came out of necessity, as the two were looking to move into a house together but couldn’t find the furniture they desired.

“We just really wanted some cool, unique pieces for our house, and we couldn’t find anything that we liked at any furniture stores,” Chris says. “At that time five or six years ago, the real big trend was flipping your furniture and painting furniture. That’s when Amie said, ‘We should try that,’ and I said, ‘Alright. Let’s go to an auction.’”

After designing several pieces, the couple quickly realized they had more furniture than they needed, which led them to start selling excess pieces to the public.

“We liked a couple of them, and then a couple of them we didn’t like,” Chris says.

After selling pieces via Facebook for a few years, Amie and Chris came to a crossroads in 2020, when Chris lost his job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a period of unsuccessful job searches, the idea to make Vintage Adventures a full-time pursuit eventually surfaced.

“In June, Amie’s famous words were, ‘We should start an Etsy shop. It’ll be fun,’” Chris says. “In June, I think we made $1,300 in sales off of Etsy. All of a sudden, from July through December we had five-figure months each month. At that point I stopped looking for a job because we couldn’t keep up with production.”

The sales success has now continued past the holiday season, as Vintage Adventures has continued selling unique wall art across the country.

“Now, we’re a five-star shop on Etsy, and we’ve done close to 1,000 sales since June,” Amie says. “It’s taken off like crazy. We’re really proud of our artwork. It started out as a vintage shop where we were flipping antiques, but it’s now more of our artwork - that’s what we do.”

Visit Vintage Adventures at 977 Logan Street in Noblesville, or call them at 317-331-9971. You can also find them on Etsy under the name Vintage Adventures LLC.

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