Through a viral TikTok video, home decor business Rae Dunn experiences a growth in popularity, both positively and negatively, resulting in people collecting and reselling these products across the internet.
Rae Dunn is a brand of home goods, characterized by its distinct font and minimalistic look. The name “Rae Dunn” is the name of the artist who originally began making pottery and selling it on the “global online marketplace,” Etsy.
She began to branch out to a variety of products which later developed into the brand it is today.
In recent years, these products have grown in popularity through social media.
Social studies teacher Amanda DiFranco believes that timing is a rather large factor in the growth of Rae Dunn.
“[During] the timing of when the Rae Dunn products started to come out, we saw Marie Kondo and the whole decluttering craze,” DiFranco said. “[Rae Dunn] offers people a way to decorate without it necessarily being a clutter.”
The growth of Rae Dunn produced different kinds of buyers.
Some people chose to purchase and resell Rae Dunn goods while others chose to collect these pieces for themselves.
Rae Dunn collector Tanya Bunting began her collection in 2017 after a friend gifted her the first item, sparking her “addiction.”
“I liked the simple, natural look and neutral color of her pottery,” Bunting said. “It was unique and perfectly imperfect.”
According to DiFranco, the farmhouse style of interior design is “on-trend” and Rae Dunn goods fall under this aesthetic category.
Rae Dunn collector Dani has a home with farmhouse-style decorations. “I loved the farmhouse design,” Dani said. “My whole house is farmhouse themed, so [Rae Dunn] played right into that.”
Marie Kondo had a theme with her ideas towards decluttering.
She would say to “discard everything that does not spark joy.”
Dani agrees with this thought process.
“One of the mistakes we all make when we’re first starting to collect Rae Dunn is we think we need to have all of it,” Dani said. “Only collect what you really like, what brings you joy.”
Through her years of collecting these minimalistic products, Bunting saw the nature of acquiring Rae Dunn goods take a turn.
“Rae Dunn culture is very addictive and became very negative in a lot of ways in the last few years,” Bunting said.
Bunting said that part of the negativity stems from the reselling of Rae Dunn products.
“[Reselling] has become a big business for people that want to make a lot of money. People actually run groups to upsell her products,” Bunting said. “They stock the stores at opening and clear the shelf of all products then mark them up to 10 times the value or more.”
Bunting doesn’t encourage new people to take part in this collecting with the negativity that surrounds it.
“Don’t even start [collecting.] Collecting has changed so much over the years it’s no longer a nice hobby. People fight and bully one another,” Bunting said.