WAS THE NEWSLETTER #56

I’m Paige Wassel. WAS the Newsletter is your weekly dose of design inspiration, where we will thrift for 72 hours straight and forget to stay hydrated.

Today, we’re taking you behind the scenes of the Brimfield video to show you how the sausage is made.

THE CONCEPT

About a year ago, I received an email from Caitlin Healy, a Massachusetts-based producer. She pitched me the idea of me coming to film at Brimfield Antique Fair, which is America’s oldest outdoor antiques flea market. 

Did this sound right up my alley? 1000%.

But logistically, traveling 3000 miles to thrift didn’t seem like something I could do, starting with, how would I even bring back the stuff I bought? The distance, the crew, the expense of it all; it didn’t seem viable. I was all, “Cool, thanks, but it’s not realistic.”

Then I started to think about it. I am in the business of turning the unrealistic into action. So I played with math, crunched some numbers, added, subtracted, multiplied, wrote some theories, made some excel spreadsheets, and BOOM. Brimfield, was a go.

NEVER SAY NEVER

Three months after our initial contact, I got a hold of Caitlin and said, “Let’s do it.”

Caitlin brought in Kenny Wass, a talented videographer with his own company called Humans Remain. He’s done work for a lot of impressive clients, like the Wall Street Journal, so suddenly, this was gaining steam.

That’s when I realized that bringing in Kate would make everything exponentially better. She and I would have good banter, we’d come up with fun storylines, etc. We all put our heads together and began to plan, along with my assistant, Maren Loveland.

As for the stuff? We’d rent a shipping container and have it sent to Los Angeles. It was coming together.

But then, a snag! Caitlin, the original producer, had to drop out because she was hired to produce on the Biden campaign, which was just so badass. So we brought in my friend who’s an LA producer, Rachel McBath.

We were a go.

THE EXECUTION

We were then tasked to figure out what “a go” would mean. Having figured out logistics for what we bought, we still had to plan our trip, plan where we’d stay, plan which fairs to hit, etc. There are fourteen of them and we wanted to make sure that we went to the right ones because if we showed up on a day that was all collectible Funko dolls and shabby chic, something very bad was going to happen on film.

We had to do a crazy amount of research to make sure we were in the right places at the right time. We also wanted to find people to interview, like the long-time vendors, because we wanted to lean into the history of this place. And yet somehow we were surprised when people who are in the business of selling old things aren’t the fastest adopters when it comes to technology. Some of them only had Facebook pages, and some had no online presence whatsoever. We were able to set some interviews before the fact, but many of them we ended up doing on the spot, getting them to sign releases so we could use their images.

We ended up staying three-to-a-room in a weird little conference center, where the windows and doors that had opened to the outdoors had been enclosed.

THE GOALS

This was the very first video I’ve made where I was only responsible for being myself. I wasn’t in charge of making sure my mic worked, or I was properly framed and lit. Without that stress, I was able to just be goofy and have fun, and it truly comes through in the finished product.

Of course, Kate and I went there with real thrifting goals, but Rachel and Kenny upped the (fake) drama by giving us storylines and filming the whole thing like a mockumentary.

Our actual goals included shopping on our own and finding the best items—so there was an element of us having to conquer each other. We also had a challenge of finding something for the other person for $100 or less.

We were told it would be impossible to find art, but making the impossible possible is where we live. Plus, we had the challenges for me to find a jacket and a cute boy to kiss.

One of these quests was more successful than the other.

I am allergic to coffee but was desperate for caffeine so I decided to give in. I call this “testing my allergy”.

I do what I must for my craft.

THE END RESULT

Here’s how it all came together:

I absolutely loved making this video and feel that it’s far and away my best work. I am so grateful to the whole team because it takes a village, you know?

If you watch, you’re going to see and feel the joy we felt and the fun we had.

Because this is what happens when you decide to take a shot at what seems impossible.

THE MISSING FOOTAGE

Here’s what you didn’t see in the video: on the second day, after we were done filming, we lost the keys to our rental van where we’d been stashing all our purchases.

Not only did we have to silence the alarm once we’d broken in to get out our stuff, but we had to haul every piece into a taxi to bring it back to our shipping container. Then we had to get the car towed out of the lot, which was a nightmare because there were a million cars parked everywhere.

After some deep research we zoomed in on a photo from earlier that day and WOAH the keys are right there on the ground. After hours of searching, they were never found. RIP to our mini van.

Regardless, this was an incredible experience and we’d love to do it again. (Maybe with a second set of keys this time.)

KATE’S PAINT COLOR OF THE WEEK

Color: Luxurious Gold

Finish: Eggshell

Room Light Level: Any

Check out Kate’s paint consultation business here!

xx,
P