Folkling, a store in Gordonsville, Virginia is filled with heritage and handmade goods. Vintage items that have been repurposed and upcycled, such as clothing made from vintage feed sacks and vintage fabric alongside a stunning collection of antique quilts. Founded in 2017 as an online store by photojournalist Leney Breeden, who opened the brick & mortar shop in 2020 with her partner Owen.

"Most everything we sell is one of a kind! Whether it's a vintage or antique item, or something handmade from old materials. We have an emphasis on appreciating storied textiles and objects from the 1950s and earlier, as well as sharing our ethos of livingly slowly."

When was Folkling established?  

Folkling started online in 2017 selling unique vintage homewares with the goal of creating spaces that foster a mindset of appreciation.

Vintage and antique clothing soon followed. The brick & mortar iteration of Folkling came about in 2020 after wanting to bring the virtual aspects of Folkling into the physical world, and share our ideology and curation with people in a more tangible way.

Where is Folkling located?

Folkling is situated in a beautiful building with original tin ceilings and exposed brick, built in 1907 and located in the heart of historic downtown Gordonsville. When we first moved here to open the shop, we had a wonderful older woman come in and tell us that there used to be a general store in our space long ago. It feels special that this place has had many chapters before ours. 

What makes Folkling so unique?

Most everything we sell is one of a kind! Whether it's a vintage or antique item, or something handmade from old materials. We have an emphasis on appreciating storied textiles and objects from the 1950s and earlier, as well as sharing our ethos of livingly slowly. 

Additionally, we are open only on Fridays and Saturdays. This allows us time source for the shop, as well as the space to keep our original vision sharp. It truly is a two person operation, and our ethos is more important to us than growth.

Again, our goal is to create with the hope of helping others foster a mindset of appreciation. Not just for the tangible goods that we curate and sell, but for the ordinary everyday moments in our lives.

What are Folkling's “must-have” products?  Because most of our pieces are one of a kind, that's a hard question to answer! However we have become well known for our antique quilt curation. Folks have really come to love and appreciate these textiles as largely uncredited works of art, primarily made by women. Not only to be used on beds, but displayed on walls in their homes as well.

We also have a large range of vintage denim and love being able to help people find their dream vintage pair of jeans.

Leney & Owen, founders and shopkeepers at Folkling

Why did you open your shop?  

We felt strongly about having a physical space that we could foster community in and we wanted to give ourselves and our customers an opportunity to experience Folkling offline.

Relationships are important to us, and while there are many friends we have made through Instagram, there is nothing like being able to make virtual friends real life ones.

What are your favorite local independent businesses?  

Our favorite spot is  Jackson & Company , a market right across the street from our shop. We go nearly every day they are open. However, we love how our street is full of, primarily female owned, independent shops. We have a lot of great neighbors!

What are your favorite shops?  

We have some West Coast loves in the way of our friends in Oregon. Two must see shops-- Our friend Anna at  Experimental Vintage . She is the antique rug queen. Also our friends Andrew and Stephen at  Velour . So many of our personal favorite pieces have come from these shops. It's really important to us to support small businesses, but it feels even better when you know the folks behind the scenes are just really good and kind people.

"We feel that people are craving real life experiences and are tired of living through screens, as a result we foresee a shift towards more in person shopping and more small businesses opening in the coming years.

However with this shift, we believe it is important to not try to be everything to everyone, and push back against the unnecessary expectation of being accessible 7 days a week, because quality is greater than quantity."