Assembly is a vintage furniture and collectible design dealer in Al Quoz, Dubai. We hold around 366 pieces at any one time: Italian lighting, mid century seating, hand knotted rugs from Iran and Anatolia, and original art. Everything is sourced in person, mostly in Italy and Turkey, and everything can be seen in the showroom before you buy it.
What vintage furniture means here
Vintage means the piece was made decades ago and has lived a life since. It is not a reproduction, and it is not new furniture styled to look old. A 1960s Murano chandelier was blown by hand on an island in the Venetian lagoon. A Wassily chair made by Gavina in Italy is not the same object as a Wassily made under licence today, even though the design is identical.
That difference matters commercially as well as sentimentally. A genuine period piece holds value in a way that a reproduction does not, and it carries a provenance that can be traced. It also means no two pieces in the showroom are the same, including the ones that share a name.
What we hold
Seating
The largest part of the collection, at around 119 pieces: 64 armchairs, 37 chairs, plus sofas, daybeds, ottomans, bar stools and benches. This is where the recognisable names sit. Knoll, Cassina, Gavina, Arflex, Thonet, Matteo Grassi. See Seating.
Murano glass lighting
Around 92 pieces, which makes this one of the larger collections of vintage Murano lighting available anywhere in the Gulf. 48 chandeliers, 41 wall sconces and a handful of ceiling lights, with Mazzega and Vistosi among the makers represented. See Murano Lighting, or go straight to Murano Chandeliers and Murano Wall Sconces. If you are new to it, start with our guide to Murano glass.
Other vintage lighting
Around 37 table and floor lamps outside the Murano collection, including Italian and French pieces from the 1950s through the 1980s, with Flos, Artemide and Stilnovo among the makers. See Vintage Lighting.
Rugs
Around 70 hand knotted rugs, Persian and Anatolian. Tabriz is the largest group, followed by Anatolian village weaving and Kerman. See Vintage Persian Rugs, and our buyer's guide if you want to know what to look for.
Art and objects
Around 32 original works, mostly oil on canvas, alongside decorative glass and ceramics. See Artwork and Decorative Objects.
Why buy vintage in Dubai
Dubai has no shortage of new furniture. What it has much less of is furniture with a history, and almost none of it in one place where you can walk around it. Most vintage buying in the region happens online, from photographs, shipped from Europe, with freight and customs on top and no way to check condition until it arrives.
Everything we sell is already here. You can see the patina on the leather, look at the back of a rug, and hold a piece of glass up to the light before you decide. If it is wrong for the room, you have not paid to ship it across a continent to find that out.
How we source
We buy in person, in Italy and Turkey mostly, in batches of four to eight pieces at a time. That is why prices on apparently identical pieces differ: each one was bought at a particular moment, at a particular price, and we price from what the piece cost rather than from a list.
It is also why the collection turns over. A piece that is in the showroom this month may not be there next month, and we rarely get the same thing twice.
Condition, and what to expect
These are objects that have been in use for forty, fifty, sometimes seventy years. Expect patina. Leather darkens and creases where someone sat. Chrome develops small spots. Glass carries the faint internal bubbles that tell you it was blown rather than moulded. Rugs show wear where a doorway was.
What you should not expect is damage that affects use or structure. Anything significant is described on the product page, and if something is not clear from the photographs, ask and we will send more.
Visiting the showroom
We are in Al Quoz, Dubai's warehouse and gallery district. The showroom is open by appointment as well as during normal hours, and it is worth coming in person: photographs of vintage pieces are honest about shape and dishonest about presence. A chandelier that looks modest in a photograph can be two metres of hand blown glass in a room.
See contact and directions, or message us to arrange a time.
Delivery and shipping
We deliver across Dubai and the UAE, and we ship internationally. Larger and more fragile pieces, Murano glass in particular, are crated rather than boxed. Lead times depend on the piece and the destination and are confirmed before you pay.
Details are on our shipping and returns page.
Start browsing
If you know what you are looking for, go to Seating, Murano Lighting, Vintage Persian Rugs or Artwork. If you do not, the fastest way to understand what we do is to come to Al Quoz and look.
