At The Rust Belt Market: Jameson Hard Goods

The offers a unique experience for patrons as well as vendors. The new art market is host to more than 60 artists every weekend. Each week, Ferndale Patch will feature one artist and get a closer view of what the heck they do.

Ferndale Patch: Who are you and what do you do?

Robert Jameson: My name is Robert Jameson. My wife, Sherri, and I own a company called Jameson Hard Goods. We sell vintage, antiques, Americana and other cool things that we find in Michigan, mostly near Detroit. We like to keep things as local as we can. We’re both from the Detroit area originally and have spent most of our lives here. We’re both very passionate about the city of Detroit.

We go to a lot of estate sales. I’m one of the crazy people that wake up at 4 a.m. to make sure I’m first in line so I can get the first pick of things. We also do garage sales. We’ve built up a pretty good following. We actually have people that will call us and they’re cleaning out their grandparent’s house or their parent’s house. They want to get rid of things so they check with us to see if the stuff is worth anything. Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not and we direct them to the Salvation Army or the thrift store or what have you.  

I also spend a lot of time on farms in mid and northern Michigan. They are some of the best sources of Americana. Farmers have the best eye for design. I always say -- once something crosses the property line of a farm, it never leaves. They are very practical people and anything can be used to fix something else or used at another time. If they need to build another building to house more stuff, they’ll do it.

Ferndale Patch: How did you get your start?

Jameson: My wife and I have been married for six years and we were both collectors of various things before we met. Once we merged our households in to one house, it was getting to the point where the floors started to bubble a bit and the walls started to separate and we had to start getting rid of things. Our first venture was out of the Ann Arbor Antique Market and we still exhibit out there once in a while. We wanted to see if people liked our stuff and we were pretty successful. Our house is still a mess, but now it just rotates – it’s a different mess every week.

Ferndale Patch: What inspires you?

Jameson: Good design inspires us. We call a lot of our stuff Americana and I think some of the best pieces of Americana are things that have a good design and have stood the test of time.

The second thing, and probably equally inspirational, is the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. We’ve had opportunities to leave the state and we both kind of decided that we don’t want to leave the state that is on the rebound. We really feel like there’s a chance to bring it back.  We believe that finding and passing things on to a new generation that might not have known about these items is one good way to revive the city. I think the Rust Belt is a big part of it.

Ferndale Patch: What is it about the Rust Belt that attracted you to it?

Jameson: It’s a lot closer than Ann Arbor. We live in Royal Oak, so it’s just a mile down the road, which is nice.

I’ve been to the flea market that this concept is based on, the Brooklyn Arts and Fleas. I spend a lot of time in California with my day job, so I’ve been to the Pasadena Flea Market. Around the country there are little pockets of these types of markets. It really creates a cool vibe to bring people in to see things they won’t see anywhere else. You’d never see this stuff at the mall. There’s a Made in Detroit store in the mall, which is great, but that’s the real popular stuff that’s almost obvious to market. This kind of brings it to a new level. We have these great brand names like Vernors and Better Made, but there are also new people starting to do things in Detroit. It doesn’t all have to be what the city was in the past, as important as the history is, it’s just as important to celebrate what it will be in the future. I think if you combine both of those things, you get a really good story about Detroit. I think the Rust Belt really represents that.

Ferndale Patch: Tell us one thing about your work that would surprise us.

Jameson: Everything in our booth, at one point or another, has been on display at our house. The first criteria for anything that we buy or sell is that we have to like it. We don’t buy or sell anything that we think is garbage. Most of the things get purchased and end up hanging on our wall or displayed on our shelves. We just like to live with it and enjoy it. The booth pretty much looks like our house. Probably half of the items in our house still have a Jameson Hard Goods price tag on them. Everything in our house is for sale, excluding two or three things – just make an offer.

If you’re looking for some vintage Americana, check our Jameson Hard Goods’ booth this weekend at Rust Belt Market. They will be at the market until December 18. If you’re looking for particular item, feel free to contact them so they can help you track it down! Don’t forget to stop by and “like” their Facebook page.