Earning her chops as an antiques dealer took spunk, luck, and cocktail waitress experience. After 20-plus years, Heather Karlie Vieira, who with her two teenage daughters now calls Georgia home, has her foot in many doors.
Leaving her hometown of Philadelphia in 2002 for New York City to become an antiques dealer meant selling her possessions, subletting a railroad-style apartment in a then fringe neighborhood of the city, and subsisting on bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches (“becs” in New York City parlance) from the corner bodega.
With $600 in her jeans, she ventured to the 25th Street flea market (formally known as the Chelsea Flea) to see what the dealers were selling and how they did it. “The pace was on another level,” she recalled. This from someone who had waitressed since age 16 at diners, fine dining establishments, and nightclubs. “I was out of sync, so I watched what other people were buying. As I waited for some divine inspiration, I stumbled across a picture frame. It was beautiful and utilitarian.”
Vieira bought six frames for $300 from “a seasoned dealer who could sniff out the newbie.” She exited the flea market with the frames hanging off her shoulders.
She has been known as “the frame girl” for many years now, having established herself as someone who not only took the time to educate herself about the category but who will also walk that “extra mile” to ensure her customers are satisfied (such as hauling frames on her shoulder on the uptown 6 train and getting comments from riders like “Oh, you’ve been framed!”). Her clients included art dealers on Madison Avenue, artists in far west Chelsea, and fellow dealers at the flea market. “I liked the idea of being a specialist,” Vieira said. “I was focused, and the frames were easy to store.”
Now, at 52, “I’m still a picker,” she admitted proudly. “I love New York, the hustle and energy and opportunity everywhere.”
Along the way, Vieira met her husband-to-be, had two daughters, and got divorced, and she wouldn’t trade any of it. “My girls are a source of beauty in my life. They’re great kids. They’ve grown up in this craziness.” She took them to museums, and sometimes they’d accompany her to the Pier shows and estate sales.
Vieira has worked with Big Apple Antiques, a longtime estate liquidator, for some 15 years. “I supervise, but I also get down and dirty with them. I’ve moved it all,” she stated. “As a tactile person, I learn by handling the thing.”
Every month she would go to Georgia to handle the merchandise Big Apple sent to the Scott Antique Markets shows. “I was flying there once a month, and more recently my daughters came with me because school was online during COVID,” Vieira explained. She had a feeling she would “eventually do something down there,” and in 2022 she moved to Georgia, just outside of Atlanta.
Vieira, who sells furniture, paintings, smalls, and some vintage clothing, currently has a booth in a co-op shop, Antiques & Beyond, and continues to exhibit at the Marburger Farm Antique Show in Round Top, Texas, in March and October and at a boutique show in High Point, North Carolina, called Chelsea on Green in April and October.
Furthermore, “I still love and have an affinity for Brimfield’s Heart-O-the-Mart,” she added.
(M.A.D. serendipitously met Vieira in early March at the 25th Street flea market when she came to the city to do some selling and buying.)
Twenty-three years into the game, Vieira pays homage to the dealers she says she “learned at the feet of” and says her mentors have become friends. She gives credit to the dealer at the 25th Street flea market who let her store her frames under his table as well as her “bodega bestie” who kept her fueled on “becs.”
A self-starter with a big personality and even bigger heart, Vieira confesses to being a dreamer. With her waitressing skills put to the test at nightclubs in the aughts, she was free to spend her days hustling frames and learning the business.
Even when she thought of herself as a “newbie,” her old soul shone through.
M.A.D. met Heather Karlie Vieira on a cold Saturday in March at the 25th Street flea market, where she set up for the day. Big hellos from her fellow dealers followed her around the fair.
Vieira sells smalls, picture frames, furniture, art, vintage clothing, and more. The 25th Street flea market (formally known as the Chelsea Flea) is now owned by the Smorgasburg group, which owns the Brooklyn Flea and BQ Flea as well as open-air food markets in New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles.
A study in blue in Vieira’s living room. The Tommi Parzinger lounge chairs were reupholstered in Vieira’s favorite shade of blue. On the mantel are a French ceramic work and a wood table lamp, both from Brimfield. On the bookshelf is a pair of Robert Laughlin paintings on hardcover books, found at the 25th Street flea market. The gingko leaf floor lamp is by Tommaso Barbi, and Vieira carried it home on the subway. On the back wall is a four-panel Chinese screen. The carpet is an antique Agra, which Vieira bought at the Scott Antique Markets in Atlanta and then brought back to her New York City apartment.
A closeup of the portrait of Vieira and her daughters by Clintel Steed.
In the entryway is a mirror with the words “You Look Great,” which Vieira painted. A portrait of Vieira by Clintel Steed (b. 1977) hangs next to the mirror, and in its reflection one can see a Steed portrait of Vieira and her two daughters, painted circa 2018.
Looking toward the kitchen is a gilt ride-on playground toucan, bought from Sheelin Wilson, who has a gilding studio in New York City. On the wall is a painting on a photograph by Philadelphia artists Natasha Hulme, a painter, and Michael Penn, a photographer. The subject is the Pearl Paint store, a fixture for decades on Canal Street, New York City. In the kitchen is an aluminum and stainless steel table from a store in Georgia.
Placed in the fireplace in the living room is a metal sculpture in the shape of a sun that came from a shop in Georgia. The chess set on the table is by Karim Rashid (b. 1960); Vieira found it at the Housing Works Thrift Shop on Manhattan’s East Side. On either side of the fireplace are her art and design reference books.
On the left wall in the dining room are a photograph by Michael Penn; part of a crate from the Chelsea Flea; and a print by Sebastian Errazuriz, a Chilean-born artist, bought from his Instagram. The monkey chandelier came from Big Apple Antiques. The dining table is from restaurant/nightclub Wet Paint Cafe, which was located on Lincoln Road in Miami. Vieira bought the table on Instagram from dealer Doubles Tennis. The large black-and-white painting, unsigned, was found in Queens and brought home “Heather style”—on the ferry. The life-size wire-form sculpture came from a shop in Georgia.
Originally published in the May 2025 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2025 Maine Antique Digest
