Today we’d like to introduce you to Marni Rosen.
Hi Marni, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My path to Brass Monkey RVA was definitely not a straight line. I started my career in the corporate world in risk management, but I’ve always had a creative side and a love for interiors, art, antiques, and especially the thrill of finding something unusual. Eventually, that led me to interior design and my own design business, Marni Rosen Designs.
Over the years, I realized that one of my favorite parts of design wasn’t simply putting a room together—it was the hunt. I loved finding the vintage and antique pieces that gave a space personality: the slightly unexpected piece of art, an incredible old vase, a pair of brass bookends, or something wonderfully strange that you didn’t know you needed until you saw it.
Brass Monkey RVA really grew out of that love of the hunt. What began with sourcing and selling vintage pieces evolved into something much bigger, and in June 2026 I opened my brick-and-mortar shop in Richmond’s West End. The idea was never to create a traditional antique store. I wanted Brass Monkey to feel collected, layered, approachable and fun—a place where beautiful things don’t have to feel precious or intimidating.
Today, the shop is a constantly changing mix of vintage and antique home décor, art and objects sourced by me along with pieces from a curated group of local sellers and artists. I still get just as excited when I find something fantastic as I did when I started, and I think that excitement is really at the heart of Brass Monkey.
The business continues to evolve—through the shop, online sales, social media, live sales, events and collaborations—but the idea behind it has stayed pretty simple: find interesting things, style them in unexpected ways, and help people create homes that feel collected rather than decorated.
I certainly didn’t predict that this is where my career would take me, but looking back, it makes perfect sense. Brass Monkey brings together everything I’ve done before—business, design, sourcing and connecting with people—and somehow turned it into something that feels completely my own.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Absolutely not. I think anyone who tells you opening a small business is a smooth road is either incredibly lucky or has a selective memory.
Brass Monkey has been a constant exercise in learning, adjusting and occasionally wondering what on earth I was thinking. Opening a brick-and-mortar store meant learning an entirely new side of business—from staffing and inventory systems to shipping, e-commerce, marketing and all of the decidedly unglamorous things that happen behind the scenes.
One of the biggest lessons has been learning that the business I imagined on paper isn’t necessarily the business my customers are going to create with me. I’ve had to pay attention to what people respond to, what sells, when they shop and how they want to shop—and then be willing to change course instead of stubbornly sticking to the original plan.
There have definitely been frustrating days. There have been days when hardly anyone walked through the door and others when the store was packed. Things have broken. Plans have fallen apart. I’ve made mistakes, spent money I probably didn’t need to spend, and learned some lessons the expensive way.
But there have also been these incredible little moments that remind me why I keep going—a customer telling me Brass Monkey has become her go-to store, someone finding the perfect piece they didn’t know they were looking for, or people simply hanging around the shop talking because they enjoy being there.
I’m still figuring it out, and I actually think that’s part of the story. Brass Monkey isn’t a finished product. It’s evolving, and I’m getting much more comfortable letting it evolve.
We’ve been impressed with Brass Monkey RVA , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Brass Monkey RVA is a vintage and antique home décor shop built around one simple idea: your home should tell your story, not look like everyone else’s.
We specialize in vintage and antique décor, art and objects with personality—pieces that can completely change a room or simply make you smile when you walk past them. You’ll find everything from original and vintage art, blue and white porcelain and brass to architectural pieces, statement vases, unusual objects and the occasional thing that is nearly impossible to describe but too good to leave behind.
What sets Brass Monkey apart is the way we approach vintage. The shop isn’t organized like a traditional antique store or filled with individual vendor booths. Everything is styled together into one cohesive, constantly changing space. I draw on my background in interior design to show customers how old pieces can live in fresh, interesting ways—and how mixing periods, styles, colors and price points can create a home that feels collected over time.
Brass Monkey is also a collaborative space. In addition to the pieces I source personally, I work with a curated group of local vintage sellers and artists whose pieces are incorporated throughout the shop. That allows the inventory to continually change while still maintaining a distinct Brass Monkey point of view.
I think we’ve also created something that goes beyond the inventory. I want the store to feel welcoming and conversational. You don’t need to know anything about antiques to shop here, and you certainly don’t need a perfectly designed house. You can come in looking for something specific, come in just to wander, or fall in love with something you had absolutely no intention of buying.
Brand-wise, that may be what I’m most proud of. Brass Monkey has developed a personality. It’s a little irreverent, a little unexpected, design-driven without taking itself too seriously, and always changing. We sell in the Richmond shop as well as online and through social media, so we’re continually finding new ways to connect people with pieces they love.
Ultimately, I want people to know that vintage doesn’t have to mean formal, fussy or old-fashioned. Great vintage makes a home more personal. And if Brass Monkey can help someone find that one strange, beautiful, completely unnecessary thing they can’t stop thinking about, then we’ve done our job.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck—both good and bad—has definitely played a role in my life and in Brass Monkey.
I’ve had enough unexpected turns in my life to know that things rarely go according to plan. Some of the things that felt like bad luck at the time ultimately pushed me in a completely different direction, and some of those directions turned out to be exactly where I needed to go.
In business, I think luck often looks a lot like timing. You find an incredible piece at exactly the right moment. The right person happens to walk into the shop. Someone discovers Brass Monkey through a social media post and becomes a customer. A conversation leads to an opportunity you never could have planned for.
There’s been bad luck too, of course—unexpected expenses, things going wrong with the physical space, plans falling through, slow days and plenty of situations that have made me think, “Seriously? One more thing?” But I’ve learned that I’m pretty good at adjusting when things don’t go according to plan.
I also think you have to put yourself in the path of good luck. I source constantly. I talk to people. I try new things. I change course when something isn’t working. Some of those things lead nowhere, and occasionally one opens a door I didn’t even know was there.
So yes, I believe in luck. But I also believe that luck has a much better chance of finding you when you keep showing up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brassmonkeyrva.com
- Instagram: @brassmonkeyrva
- Facebook: Brass Monkey RVA
