Get Back Inc

Kent is cool, full of interesting shops and galleries to attract the day tripper. And perhaps one of the neatest of the new offerings in town is Get Back Inc, a purveyor of vintage industrial and mid-century modern furniture, lighting, antiques, storage, seating, oddities and more.

The business, which was established by in Oakville in 2001 by Tim Byrne, opened a second outlet in the Kent Barns complex this spring.

In a world that is increasingly disposable, Byrne has based his business on what is built to last. He populates his stores with new art based on old machines, lights and furniture culled from factories and workshops from the country’s industrial past.

There was a time when vintage machinery was created with an aesthetic as well as a functional esthetic. The materials, castings, and fixtures are imbued with inimitable character. “These are heritage pieces serving as functional art,” Byrne asserts on his website. “… We rescue exemplary Machine Age pieces from the American Industrial Revolution forward into the postwar era and transform them into heirlooms. Our hope is future generations will appreciate the painstaking craftsmanship that went into these machines and furnishings that faithfully served the men and women who literally made America.”

So elegant and evocative are his creations that he has been commissioned to design and build bespoke store displays, furniture and lighting fixtures for projects around the world from Shimamura Paris & Co. to London’s Dorchester Hotel to the renovation of the Gramercy Park Hotel.

The business is located at 7 Fulling Lane in Kent and is open Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 AM-5 PM; Saturday and Sunday, 10 AM-6 PM. The website is listed below.