Juan Pablo Tintore has long loved bringing life back to vintage furniture through the art of restoration. Long before “Tintore Muebles Vintage” began as a business in 2015, he had already been collecting furniture for well over a decade.
Before opening his showroom, he mostly restored furniture for fun or to add style to the apartments which he was renting. However, as his expertise grew and he started to run out of room, he decided it was time to turn his passion into a business.
“This is something I really love, it gives me such joy to turn a piece someone else saw as disposable into a work of art!” Tintore exclaims with a grin.
Tintore utilizes a variety of techniques in his work but is most fond of restoring furniture in a way that features rather than erases evidence of wear and tear, while at the same time ensuring functionality and sturdiness.
Tintore says that his customers are very diverse. They include international residents living in large homes downtown, but also local families wishing to restore pieces of furniture that they may have inherited from a parent or grandparent.
Antique furniture in Yucatán can be found at any price range in garage sales, shops, and occasionally for free on discarded heaps on sidewalks. The most coveted styles include pastel-colored art deco and French-style provincial furniture. However, Tintore tells us that his favorite pieces tend to be the less ornate — but more functional — traditional Yucatecan furniture of the early to mid 20th century.
When asked about his greatest finds, Tintore recalls an occasion in which he stumbled upon a treasure trove of antique furniture inside an old hacienda in Mérida’s south.
“The new owner wanted everything out as he wanted to redecorate from scratch, so I was more than happy to buy up the entire lot. There is nothing I love more than when treasure hunting pays off like that!” he says.
Telephone: 999-242-0764; Instagram: @tintoremueblesvintage
