Rarify, the high end designer furniture showroom nestled in Bella Vista is trying to push the boundaries within the design scene in Philadelphia. They are doing it by strategically marketing upscale big name brand furniture, with high design features, to motivate individuals to move from fast furniture to upscale higher quality furniture.
“What I perceive in Philly is that there’s a younger demographic interested in design that will only, I think, get bigger. As all of us get older hopefully we make a few extra bucks here and there and mature to be able to afford the nicer tougher. I think to to some degree as folks our age we hope of folks our age are getting out of their ikea shopping and into other stuff, or move into a new apartment or whatever, we hope to become part of that conversation when looking for pieces to furnish,” said David Rosenwasser.
Jeremy Biloti and David Rosenwasser founded Rarify in 2021 and opened up their second shop and showroom in 2025. As individuals with architecture backgrounds, high design to David and Jeremy is of the utmost importance meaning the shape, dimensions and functionality of an item. At its core, the furniture buyer duo deals with purchasing and tracking down important authentic vintage furniture from the last 100 years. But also, sourcing brand new furniture, which tends to go to the interior designers and architects who are interested in furnishing. This involves a strong relationship with the manufacturers and keeping on top of auctions and sales to procure those pieces. Which is not easy, and involves jumping through hoops sometimes to maintain those relationships. One of Rarifys goal in the city is to grow good relationships with people involved the design community, which means closer and getting known by architecture scene, local interior design scenes or related disciplines like local woodworkers and upholsters.
“There are a lot of small manufacturers, who we have a vested interest in that we want to support, both because they do really good work but also the smaller brands and manufacturers aren’t as hyper saturated in the market. Which means it’s easier for us to put in time and love to support those folks, and if they become better known, there’s a better chance they’ll buy stuff from us,” said David.
Philadelphia is a less saturated market for furniture and design, at least compared to New York City. According to David, there are few shops that do this for upscale brand name furniture items, and much very fewer for vintage furniture items, but Rarify so happens to hold both. David relayed how he feels as though helping bring design and history of these items to a younger audience is an important factor. Marketing has been very key for Rarify, which is mainly through Instagram, where they focus on educating the market.
David and Jeremy have an extreme depth of knowledge when it comes to furniture and design. They like to share their knowledge and unlock the gates that have been gatekeeping the complex information they learned in architecture school, and make it digestible for anyone interested. Their demographic online are 25-45 years old, which is a lot younger than your average individual purchasing a $5,000 dollar chair.
“In Philly we’ve noticed, across the board, we probably seem less intimidating to someone younger who wants to get into design, compared to some of our peers in the city,” said David.
More recently known, Rarify has been mentioned in publicity for its furniture appearance in the acclaimed show “Severance.” Before David and Justin created their media marketing concept, they had many earlier buyers of their furniture, like Erykah Badu and Ramy Yusef.
The recent Rarify and Fernweh furniture showcase featured multiple high quality pieces from Oregon-native Justin. Collaboration is key, a win-win for everyone.
Justin Nelsons unique woodworking centric furniture items, which was followed by a short speech, acknowledgements and good laughs.
The event was exactly how one might imagine, art gallery style but with furniture. Free beverages and snacks, knowledgeable people and great conversation, but not pretentious. David allowed attendees to go throughout his well curated apartment on top of the furniture shop. Throughout his apartment were countless rare and exquisite items that he’s collected throughout his life.
Philly Plain Dealer 
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