Jack Laver Brister’s Instagram account looks like something from the archives of World of Interiors. Mahogany furniture, chintz and pots of pelargoniums abound. “I’d say my style is quite masculine and English,” says Laver Brister (above), whose home appears in Ros Byam Shaw’s recent book Perfect English Townhouse. “It’s that faded country house look.”

Laver Brister could be described as a “new traditional” dealer and decorator – he’s just completed an interior design project on a Georgian townhouse in London. He scours country auctions and markets for “useful and decorative pieces with originality – things that haven’t been retouched or restored”.

He started dealing five years ago, at the age of 26. “Both sets of grandparents were in the trade,” he explains, “so it’s definitely been passed down from them.” He rents a barn from his parents just outside the town of Somerton in the West Country. “The barn is open casually and by appointment, because I can’t afford a shop,” he says. “Besides, I think I’d go mad sitting in a shop all day waiting for people to come in. I’d find it demoralising.” Instead, his latest stock (which includes a rosewood William IV sofa, a selection of bobbin chairs and a gleaming “whatnot” for displaying small objects) is uploaded to Instagram where his following (31,000 and counting) more than makes up for the lack of footfall in Somerton.

“The past 20 years have been dire for antiques,” Laver Brister says, blaming Ikea and eBay for the steady disappearance of antique shops – that and the fact that a generation of homemakers “didn’t want what their parents had”. Now, thanks in part to the rise of high-profile designers such as Ben Pentreath and Max Rollitt, “traditional furniture is being put back on the map.” @tradchap

Harth

‘People don’t want to see their pieces sitting in storage’: Henrietta Thompson and Ed Padmore of Harth. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer

Harth is a digital platform that connects lenders with borrowers. It was conceived by Henrietta Thompson, editor-at-large of Wallpaper* magazine, and her husband, Ed Padmore, after they moved house four times in two years. “We had our fair share of changing circumstances, and the frustrations that brings with it,” explains Thompson, 39. “Storage is one of the fastest growing markets at the moment,” she says. “People feel overwhelmed with the stuff they have. This is a better way of dealing with it.”

Members search for pieces to rent, be it an 18th-century gilded mirror, art deco dresser or Memphis-style light fitting. The borrower will then connect directly with a lender, specify which dates they would like to borrow the piece for and arrange delivery. “It’s a platform that enables you to have access to all kinds of objects without having to invest in forever-pieces,” she explains.

The site is at founder membership stage, but there are already around 10,000 items available to rent. Harth has partnered with dealers such as Talisman, Kairos Collective and One Room Gallery as well as private clients. “We’ve been inundated with requests from people who want to see their pieces having a life, rather than sitting in a dark storage unit somewhere,” says Thompson.

Borrowers range from interior designers to property developers. “Renting hasn’t had the best reputation. It has traditionally been considered a second-best option,” Thompson concedes. “With Harth, the backstory and provenance that comes with each item actually adds to the value of it.”

There is no unifying look to Harth. “We’re not really imposing any aesthetic,” says Thompson, who has populated her Instagram feed with images that delight in a fearless approach to colour and a playful sense of shape and scale. “Each piece is chosen for its integrity. Other than that, we’re simply encouraging borrowers to be a lot more experimental with their interiors.”

harth.space; @harth_space

8 Holland Street

‘There’s no snobbery about it’: Rowena Morgan-Cox and Tobias Vernon of 8 Holland Street in Kensington. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer

When Tobias Vernon was a student at Cambridge, he’d take himself off to Kettle’s Yard to study among the books, furniture, plants, beach pebbles and 20th-century artworks belonging to Jim and Helen Ede. “Everything about the space and location gave me this wonderful feeling,” he recalls. When he started to work in interiors, he realised that he wanted to recreate that sense of “objects without hierarchy”.

In March this year, Vernon opened 8 Holland Street in Kensington with curator Rowena Morgan-Cox (both 30). Morgan-Cox had been a director at the Fine Art Society, and Vernon had worked as an interior designer and art buyer before raising the funds to open their two-storey space full of textiles, books, art, ceramics, furniture, tableware and contemporary design. “Everything in here is uplifting,” Vernon enthuses. “The intention is to knock down the sense of a single genre. That’s what inspires me.”

The objects have been sourced from places including markets in southern France, northern Italy and auction houses across Somerset, where the gallery has a second outpost. “Each month, we change the displays around,” Vernon explains. “It gives us a nervous breakdown every time we do it, but it keeps people engaged in the objects and the spaces.”

Their site in Somerset was recently transformed from a storage space and workshop to a rustic showroom (it’s at the end of a track on a working farm). Visitors come by appointment, sit on the vintage B&B Italia suite and admire the contemporary textiles by Catarina Riccabona, the two-tone marble Campbell-Rey coffee table and collection of anonymous ceramics found on eBay.

“Our aim is to put people at ease,” Vernon says. “We want to show visitors how they could actually live with works of art, to see how collectibles might sit next to a stack of books, or an everyday found object or curiosity.” Morgan-Cox adds: “There’s no snobbery about it and I think our customers appreciate that.” 8hollandstreet.com; @8hollandstreet

1934

‘It’s a long game’: Ruby Woodhouse and Abel Sloane of 1934. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer

The founders of 1934 – Ruby Woodhouse, 29, and Abel Sloane, 27 – still live with their parents. They are saving up to buy their first home together. “Every so often we find a piece that we don’t want to sell,” Sloane says. “We’ve already found our own door handles because, when the time comes, we know it’ll be impossible to find the right ones.”

The couple set up their company four years ago and named it after the year the Dutch furniture designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld started to design flat-pack crate furniture. It was his approach to design and self-assembly that got Sloane interested in furniture. The couple have also published a book about the British furniture maker, Gerald Summers called The Simple Heart of Plywood.

“There was very little information anywhere about him, so we compiled our own research into a small book,” says Sloane, who studied English at university. “It’s an edition of 500, which hopefully means 500 more people will be able to read about the company and see the designs, even if they don’t own them.”

Most of the furniture they have is from the 1920s and 30s and is unified by “a simplicity of design”. (They are known for sourcing coveted pieces by the Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto, for example.) Loosely, what they look for is “lightweight furniture that can be used pretty much anywhere.” The combination of simplicity and flexibility, coupled with a cultural awareness of the era (the V&A’s 2017 plywood exhibition, and the forthcoming centenary of Bauhaus), has attracted a new generation of buyers.

Stock is found at auctions, markets and house clearances in the UK, France, Sweden and Finland. “It’s taken five years to build up those contacts,” Sloane says. “It’s a long game.” There’s no showroom or shop: everything is kept in a lock-up in Kent and presented online. “Finding the furniture is the most fun part for me,” he adds. “I want to get the thing home and find out as much as I can about it. But we also enjoy presenting it in a new way for other people to see.”

Sourcing is another part of the job for 1934. “People find us on Instagram and contact us if they like what we’ve got but don’t have the actual thing they want, or if they want to borrow a piece for a photoshoot.” The couple also offer interior design and are busy working on other projects – all good practice for when they find a home of their own.

abelsloane1934.com; @abelsloane1934