Store brings 'tacky' back

It may not be surprising that Charles Eames, Paul McCobb, Verner Panton, Arthur Umanoff or Edward Wormley are names not everyone is familiar with. They are famous designers of mid-century modern furniture.
What may come as a surprise is that their furniture and replicas of it are available at a store in Jay County.
The longtime owner of a building in Redkey previously used it as a warehouse for his large collection of furniture, which he sold online and through appointment only.
But after three other proprietors opened antique stores this spring in downtown Redkey, Jeff Miller decided he would also start having regular hours to sell his mid-century modern furniture and accessories so he could become more involved in the business community that is slowly finding its niche.
“I’ve had this store on this corner for 35 years, as a hobby,” Miller said of Corner Store Antiques — “Mid-century … and beyond.
“The idea is to get people to come to town. We’ve got enough things going on now that we actually can draw people to town.”
Miller’s store is open from noon until 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and will be through Christmas. The other stores — Oak Leaf Antiques, owned by Robert Judd; Glass-n-More Fix-It Shop, owned by Paul and Katherine Saunders; Dynamites Antiques and Vintage, owned by Kathy Bird-Crow — keep the same hours.
The downtown also has two restaurants, a theatre featuring musical attractions and that also serves food, and a tattoo parlor in addition to the antiques stores.
Miller used to sell only traditional antiques, but during the last 15 years he refined his business to ’50s, ’60s (and ’70s) mid-century modern, an era he is passionate about. He refers to it as “’50s and ’60s kitsch.”
Miller describes kitsch as “fun and funky” but thinks a truer definition would be, “Something that used to be a popular style, but by today’s standards would be considered out of date, or maybe even in bad taste, poor taste — i.e., tacky.”
Examples of kitsch might be a velvet Elvis, of which he has three in the store, pink flamingos or melmac dishes.
Not everything made in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s is considered modern though, such as Early American or French Provincial. Danish modern is Miller’s favorite design style.
Examples are powder blue shell chairs or bright orange chairs, low round coffee tables, bright colored glass vases or sunburst clocks.  
Buyers come to Redkey from as far as Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis to buy Miller’s inventory, and he ships furniture all over the country.
“There’s not very many shops that just have the ’50s, ’60s ’70s,” he said.
Walking into Miller’s shop is like taking a step back in time. Items range from something you might see on the set of “The Brady Bunch,” “That ’70s Show,” “I Love Lucy,” “Bewitched” or “Mary Tyler Moore.”
More recently, mid-century modern gained popularity through the television series Mad Men, Miller said. The AMC series was set in the 1960s and featured furniture, cars and clothing from that period. The show first aired in 2007 and had its final show in May of this year. It attracted the younger generation to the style because Miller said they consider traditional antiques depressing and call it “brown furniture.”  
He thinks the bright colors — oranges, blues and greens — are what draw younger people to the style.  
“To me everything is a stand alone work of art, from ashtrays to lamps to sofas. Makes you happy, the bright colors and designs. Makes me happy,” Miller said, while saying he understands his taste isn’t for everyone.
“When they come to town for the first time and walk into my shop, it’s either a love or hate. If they hate it, they’ll take one look around and walk out. If they love it, their mouth drops open and they just can’t believe there’s a whole store of something that they like. There’s really not much in between,” Miller joked.
He and his wife Jayne Morgan-Miller continue to decorate their home with traditional antiques, even though Miller admits he would love to have it filled with furniture from his store. But his wife hates it.
Since Miller has been in business for so long, he gets calls from people cleaning out relatives’ homes wanting to know if he is interested in any of their mid-century items.
“Not everybody buys this stuff,” he said.
Miller retired from First Merchants Bank in Portland in 2007, but has dealt with mid-century modern for so long that he is somewhat an expert on the subject.  
“It’s just out of love for it,” Miller said. “I guess you tend to learn more about things that you have a passion for.”