A FRANK CHAT WITH RUE VINTAGE 74
Born in Madrid in 2010, Rue Vintage 74 is the vision of Piluca Hueso. What began as a digital universe has grown into a destination for unique furniture and objects with soul and history. From 18th century Europe to 1970s Africa and Asia, their curation embraces both timeless vintage and contemporary artisanal creations. At its heart, RV74 is a family legacy. Since 1995, mother and daughter have traveled the world together in search of extraordinary pieces. Each one is chosen not only for its beauty, but for its ability to move, to tell a story, to improve the quality of everyday life. Their spaces are conceived like books, filled with memories, experiences, and inspiration, always looking forward with pride in the past. We sat down with Piluca Hueso to talk about intuition, soul, and the timeless dialogue between past and present.
Your curation feels deeply intuitive. What kind of emotional or aesthetic response do you hope to evoke when someone walks into a space filled with Rue Vintage 74 pieces?
I want something to awaken inside them. Not only admiration, but a feeling. A thought: This does not look like anything I have seen before, yet I feel like I belong here. RV74 began online in 2010. A digital universe, born from instinct. Then I opened our first showroom in Madrid. That changed everything. Visibility. Storytelling. How people experienced our world. Our curation comes from intuition, from experience, from an aesthetic sensitivity we have cultivated for years. The eye can be trained, but the soul must flow. And our clients know it. They trust us blindly. If it is in RV74, it has quality, design, and truth. We do not follow trends. We aim to move you. If it does not move you, it is meaningless.
How do you define the concept of ‘soul’ in the context of interiors, and what role does vintage design play in creating that feeling?
Soul is that which cannot be copied. It is when an object looks back at you. When a space speaks. At RV74, the soul appears when past and present enter into dialogue. Not because something is old, but because it carries an authentic story. Many speak of pieces with history. We have been doing it for more than twenty years. We live it, so we tell it better. I always start from quality, but the heart rules. Emotion guides everything. Well curated vintage is not decoration. It is storytelling. And when you add creativity and a forward gaze, the soul shines through.
The objects you select are filled with history and yet feel utterly current. How do you achieve that delicate balance between nostalgia and modernity?
Because we are not trying to replicate the past. We want to inspire the present. The balance lies in contrast. An Italian 20th century armchair beside a contemporary artwork. Cultures, eras, languages in the same visual conversation. For that you need discernment, sensitivity, and freedom. It is this balance that makes us unmistakable. We have been imitated in tone, in style, in combinations. But ours cannot be copied. It has soul.
A well-designed space is as much about atmosphere as it is about materials. What kind of environment do you seek to create when styling with vintage pieces?
We create worlds, not rooms. Places that inspire. Places that soothe. Places that make you dream. Spaces where you breathe in imperfect beauty. Textures. Light. Shadow. Silence. Emotion. Vintage, used with intention, transforms more than a room. It changes your state of mind. At The Apartment, our living showroom, the atmosphere is hard to explain, but easy to feel. It is not just about aesthetics. It is an experience. That is why people visit RV74 as they would an exhibition. To be inspired, even if they do not buy.
In a world saturated with fast design, what do you think draws people back to the imperfect, history-filled charm of vintage?
Because we are tired of the flat. The flawless. The mass produced. We live too fast. Vintage brings us back to slow time. To what lasts. To what has soul. But it is not only about rescuing the old. It is about telling its story. That is our strength. Every object at RV74 has its own content. Sometimes it is like a conversation between two people. Intimate. Emotional. And if you do not feel it, that is fine. It is not for everyone.
Responsibility is becoming an essential value in design. How do you embrace it, through the stories behind your pieces, or in the way you source and curate them?
Responsibility is at the heart of what we do. We work with objects that already exist. They have lived. They need no new resources, only a second life. And we know how to give it to them. But it is also emotional and cultural. We honor tradition. We preserve crafts. We respect the history of each piece and each technique. We select with rigor. Quality and beauty must align, but emotion is always the key. This is a curation that inspires, educates, connects. It cannot be improvised. For more than twenty years we have done it with the same passion as the first day. And we look forward. To taking RV74 into new contexts. Into homes, hotels, restaurants. To creating collections of our own. Because we are not only a brand. We are a way of seeing the world.