After living online, Beit Prod, the vintage platform, has now opened a physical showroom in Al Quoz — an appointment-only space filled with objects from the 1920s all the way through to the early 2000s. Think mid-century furniture, space-age design, vintage sunglasses, Murano glass, old-school tech and pieces that seem to carry half a lifetime of stories with them.

Behind it is Prod Antzoulis, a Dubai-raised photographer and creative director whose work has always had a strong relationship with nostalgia, memory and the things we choose to keep around us. So Beit Prod feels like a pretty natural extension of his world — only now you can actually walk into it.

We spoke to him about finally giving Beit Prod a physical home, why nostalgia matters so much, the objects he really doesn’t want anyone to buy, and how a two-hour Dubizzle hunt turned into one of the best stories in the showroom.

— For someone who has never heard of Beit Prod before, how would you describe the showroom — and what will they find when they walk in?

— The first thing I hope people experience when they come into the showroom is this nostalgic journey through memories from their past — something that might bring back a very specific feeling or remind them of a moment from their childhood.

Everything you see in the space was placed according to my own instinct. I have spent so much time travelling to vintage stores and thrift markets around the world that I think I naturally developed this sense of how things should flow together.

There are different sections to browse: vintage sunglasses and accessories, shelving with home decor spanning from the 1920s to the early 2000s, a lot of mid-century pieces and a lot of space-age design.

But I think what people really find is this element of surprise. Weve only been open for a couple of weeks, and that has been consistent across almost every appointment — people are surprised to see these pieces in real life. I love seeing the smile on their faces.

Some people come because they want to learn more about vintage. Some want to connect with me as an artist and understand my process and how I got here. And some are simply obsessed with vintage, have already seen pieces on the website and want to experience them in person — and maybe have the chance to own one themselves.

It has been really beautiful to see that kind of energy develop in the space, because none of it was planned. It all happened very instinctively.

— Beit Prod existed online before it had a physical space. Why did now feel like the right moment to open a showroom?

— The idea of Beit Prod having a physical space was always part of the plan. I just never wanted to rush it, because I want the brand to grow as I grow. That means it can change shape all the time.

Someone recently asked me how it felt to have the project finally “finished,” and I said I don’t think it is. I think it will keep changing as I change as a person. That is actually what excites me most about it. I have created a brand that exists on my own creative terms, and I get to decide where I take it.

So far, it has been really fun, playful and experimental, and it has been received in such a positive way, which I am incredibly grateful for.

As for why now, the space actually came to me. An opportunity came up in Al Quoz 1 through a local designer I know very well and whose jewellery I have been familiar with for a long time. She put out a listing for a space available within her studio, and I responded immediately because, instinctively, it felt like the right moment.

It felt like my pieces were ready to have somewhere to breathe, exist and tell their own stories in an environment that supported them.

— The showroom is currently open by appointment. What kind of experience do you want people to have when they come in?

— There are two reasons we decided to make the showroom appointment-only.

The first is practical: it is also my working space. Sometimes my team and I simply can’t accommodate visitors because we are working on other projects, whether that is creative direction, photography, or other work happening through Beit Prod.

The second reason is more about the experience. I want people to come in and browse with intention, whether or not they actually intend to buy anything.

I want them to have the time to meet the founder, understand my process and hear the stories behind the pieces. These objects have already lived for so many years, and I feel they deserve a certain amount of time and attention rather than people constantly flowing in and out of an open shop.

I wanted the experience to feel precise and considered. And so far, it has really worked in our favour. People seem to enjoy the appointment-only format, partly because it is also something Dubai isn’t particularly used to.

— Is there one piece in the showroom you secretly hope no one buys? Something that you really love?

— There are several pieces in the showroom that I absolutely love, but only a few that I secretly hope no one buys.

One of them is the Welter 2005 speaker system. It also plays cassettes, has a record player and, to me, is the epitome of 1960s space-age design. I am completely obsessed with it.

As much as I love it, it genuinely pains me to think about letting it go. We have already had some interest and a few people have come to see it, so obviously, if someone decides to buy it, I’ll have to emotionally detach.

But it is one of the pieces I feel particularly close to because it took me such a long time to source. I had my eye on it for years, and I finally managed to get it. It only arrived in the showroom about a week ago, so I am still enjoying having it there.

— Tell us about one object in the showroom whose story you would never guess just by looking at it.

— I have had the privilege of collecting so many different things throughout my life and travelling to all these different countries, so I think I have reached a point where an object really has to stand out for me to say, “Okay, this is staying with me. I’m not sharing this one.”

For example, I recently acquired a Macintosh from 1993, and that was really difficult for me to let go of. So I didn’t — it now lives in my personal archive at home.

With most other things, I immediately have a feeling of, “This belongs in Beit Prod.” And if something doesn’t trigger that sense of excitement or nostalgia, then I am usually ready to walk away from it.

It is very emotional and very personal. I might see something in Tokyo and experience it completely differently from how I would experience an object in Denmark, simply because of the moment I am in and the story of how I came across it.

At the same time, there is a visual identity I am building for the brand. Somehow, instinctively, all these different objects end up coinciding and speaking the same language.

— You spend so much time finding objects with character. What makes you look at something and think, “This belongs in Beit Prod”? And what can make you walk away from something beautiful?

— One little Easter egg, as I like to call it, is our recently installed TV. It looks like an old TV from the 1990s, but we have connected it to new technology — at the moment, there is a Nintendo Switch hooked up to it.

So anyone who comes in can basically sit down and have a full Super Mario Kart session, but visually it still feels like you are playing on one of those old TVs from when you were a kid. It is super nostalgic, and it has become one of my favourite little corners in the showroom.

Another thing is that we are essentially a speakeasy. People don’t really know our exact location until they are coming to see us, and I don’t want to reveal too much about that. You arrive without completely knowing what to expect, and I think that sense of anticipation adds something really special to the whole experience.

— What is something about the showroom that nobody knows yet?

— One item in the showroom that has quite a funny story behind it is our leather sofa, which is actually a vintage Italian piece from the ’90s.

I don’t usually spend much time browsing online or on Dubizzle, but I had this very specific idea in my head: I wanted a leather sofa with a stainless-steel tubular frame. At first, I spoke to my suppliers to see if they could make something like that, but it ended up being a little over budget. So I turned to Dubizzle.

After around two hours of searching through what felt like 400 different leather sofas, I was almost ready to give up. Then I found this one and had an instant connection with it.

I was so determined to get it that I kept messaging the owner, to the point where he actually started worrying that I might be trying to scam him. I had already organised a shipping company to pick it up, and they were basically on their way, even though he hadn’t fully confirmed that he was ready to sell it yet.

Eventually, once he understood that we were a store and saw the space where the sofa would live, everything changed. It turned out that it was a vintage piece he had collected himself, and he was actually a little afraid of letting it go to the wrong person.

When I showed him the showroom, he was genuinely happy to know that his sofa would have a new life here. So what started as this slightly chaotic Dubizzle exchange ended up becoming a really beautiful moment.