Material Culture

Fabulous art and artifacts from around the world! The pricing is middle of the road and stays affordable. Plus some smaller shops featuring global family clothing and accessories. Enchanting atmosphere all around and the music is refreshingly eclectic A big plus.

This was my second time there. I find that the Items are either too huge or too small at this place. Perhaps this helps their clientele who keep them afloat but not an average antique buyer in my opinion. Also, they seem to have moved their hand made rug collection to the ground floor from upstairs, but most good rugs are wrapped up instead they have some cheap rugs covering the floor, which are not impressive at all. They should cover the floor with the beautiful handmade rugs that are wrapped in the corners in hiding.

I love this pace for all the unique items they always have. Lots of inspiration! I have bought some furniture and accessories over the years, that I absolutely love. Visited recently to shop for wardrobes.

Just a very strange, cold, completely disorganized place. I have tried several times over the years, most recently today, and I cannot imagine how they are still in business. Often items are unmarked so you must beg a person to help you. Now the upstairs portion of the building is off limits to customers? This is what I was told by the cashier hastily as she was eating her bag of chips.

Superior goods, treatment by staff, prices, and knowledge of oriental rugs by owner!

Material Culture is a giant warehouse in the middle of Germantown that houses a sort of import and artist collective. Every time I go, it's a feast for my eyes, with the coolest wares from around the world. If you have a house, bring your checkbook. If you don't, you can still find smaller things that are affordable and eclectic.

Such a unique place! If you are looking for home goods that are unlike the big box stores you should come here. The prices of items vary widely. We picked up a beautiful textile I want to use for a tablecloth for $25 and we found a cool rug for $150 or so. Some of the rugs were priced into the thousands. Art, lighting, furniture can all also be found at material culture.

This place is fascinating to walk around. It is more of an antiques shop than a thrift shop. There are sections are are pretty darkly lit but worth seeing at least once.

In from Austin, Tx, my friend Roya introduced me to this establishment. What an assortment of quality rugs and wooden furniture. Very distinctive selection and helpful staff to add. If they sold wine by the glass you could spend a couple hours socializing and gazing at the two story walls with lights everywhere.

I've been shopping at Material Culture for about 20 years -- and it's always a fun adventure. You never know quite what you will find, but they have consistently great products. I've purchased amazing cabinets, buffets, wall art, chairs, and more (See accompanying photo). Prices are very reasonable. They offer delivery in the Philly area (which means you don't have to play Jenga in the back of your SUV)

I came here for a wedding and at first I wasn't sure what to expect walking in because the outside looks so nondescript, but my god was it a site to see! I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of endless vintage artifacts sitting, hanging, and standing all over the massive space. We're not gonna talk about the prices of most of the items here because I don't want to cry lol.

But what was cool was they allowed for some of the items to be used in the event. Like the tables and chair for dinner were also vintage and for sale. There's an upstairs balcony that overlooks in entire area and its mostly filled with oriental rugs draped from the ceiling and laying on the floor. The downstairs was an open space format with beautiful lighting all around and on the ceiling. I'm surprised there were so many expensive items just randomly around the room, but I'm pretty sure the rental cost is up there to balance that risk. Overall it was an amazing event even tho half the time I just just couldn't help but walk around and be inspired by the beautiful art I was grateful to see.

One of the best places for home decor from around the world - rolls of Ikat fabrics, Chinese wardrobes, Moroccan lanterns, Japanese fabrics, and so on. Reasonable prices. Authentic stuff with great ambiance like free coffee and varied music from 99 Red Balloons (Starlite Singers) to world music. Only wished I lived in Philly! Great staff, stress shopping experience!

Just the most amazing place. Furniture, art, Pottery, jewelry, it a football field size old factory. Prices are good. Selection is off the hook. If you are decorating or redecorating it's a must stop. Good help. It's like a museum! Fun way to kill an afternoon.

Wow, it's a store and a venue - super cool. I attended a beautiful wedding here, and when I wasn't getting down on the dance floor or stuffing my face with food, I was perusing the beautiful wares for sale. If I lived in PA, I would've spent too much money. Beautiful spot!

We attended a wedding at this very cool, funky space, chock full of random objets d'art, antiques and other breakables. I'm shocked the owners and insurers allow guests to mingle with these items during events, particularly since I thought of absconding with a sculpture or accent piece quite a number of times during the wedding, and I'm sure others did, too.

The acoustics were actually not too bad, despite all the carpets, wall hangings and sound-absorbing decor. They may or may not have a dedicated caterer for events, here; whoever provided the food for the wedding did a phenomenal job, especially with candy-sweet seasonal beets and tomatoes, a curry of shrimp and okra, and a wide selection of perfectly made / maintained hors d'oeuvres.* Bar-tending and serving staff were really nice, excellent at doing their assigned jobs.

Not sure if they were employees / contractors of Material Culture or the caterer, but they were great! The one and only downside from a guest's perspective: Are there really only one pair of bathrooms for the entire venue, which must be rented out for something like 200 guests per event? It's possible there were more, but we didn't personally find them.

If you have very old guests and very young ones, that's kind of nuckin' futs. ---- * OK, curiosity got the better of me and I looked it up. Food is by Chef Aliza Green, evidently a James Beard award winner: - https://materialculture.com/cafe-news/chef-aliza-green/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliza_Green If Chef Green's wedding / large format banquet food is this good, I can't wait to see what her more personalized dining is like. This is a chef I would go out of my way for.

No weekend pickups for items bought at auction - that is ridiculous for a retail store that shows the same items pre-auction on the weekends. And no I don't care about your internal department hours. I've spent significant amounts here in the past, but I won't be anymore.

It's wild that this place even exists. Totally unique collection of things from all over the world. Definitely a must go.

A must see, they have such beautiful stuff, it's like being in a museum. When you walk in there you know you're going to want to buy everything they sell. Be prepared to be in all of the beauty and Oddities.

Was hung up on by rude woman answering calls for store. Was looking for an appraisal and instead of politely saying they don't provide those services it was easier to hang up I guess. Poor customer service

We bought a beautiful Indonesian cabinet with four doors painted rustically in a soft turquoise a few years ago. Material Culture employees kindly loaded this heavy piece into the rear of an SUV for us to transport it home. It took two people to carry it into our home. It has held up well and is as beautiful today as when we purchased it 3-4 years ago. Nice customer service and yummy healthy food at their cafe.

This is an interesting store. However, beware their auctions. Their online bidding lags badly, and they will call the bid for someone else even though your bid is showing and is the highest bid. Very disappointing. If you can't get there in person, don't bother.

Majority of positive reviews here are fake, written by Yelp "pros" that are paid for their services. Dive deeper into the reviews and you will know what this place actually is - a total scam. Their inventory is made in China garbage being passed off as "exotic" and "antique." This is the worst sort of racist, scammer garbage operation that hearkens back to 19th century orientalist souvenir culture preying on the ignorance of good people that want to open their horizons to the world.

This place sells the quality of items that you would find on Canal Street in NY. They sell "persian" rugs that arrive in bulk from China at extreme mark up. They are criminals - unethical, immoral and predatory. BUYER BEWARE

It's a museum, it's a gallery. no it's the most beautiful auction and craft house in town! Visited this evening with friends for the Jonathan Demme pre auction party. What a lovely night, it's the perfect space to host an event. The auction preview was on the second floor in the back room, a lovely display of mostly African folk art. Paintings, sculptures, crafts, metalwork, a beautiful collection. Aliza Green, the Material Culture chef and cookbook author prepared an incredible multiple table buffet of nibbles for the evening.

The main hall was filled with tables and chairs facing a fantastic live band, and some guests were dancing. My girlfriend and I spent some time with Sam ogling over the jewelry, and we each bought earrings. Sam has some of her own clay sculptures for sale in the little boutique, I especially liked the dog head with the eyes open. Sam's boutique is filled with fun feminine products, easy dresses, linen shirts, soaps, bead and tassel bracelets, wine glasses, mugs, jewelry, and so much more.

Everything in the boutique is very well priced! Outside of Sam's boutique is her husband George's gigantic 90,000 sq ft antique emporium filled with global art and furniture. George was very friendly and mingled in the party. The selection of antiques and crafts in the space are outstanding, every single piece has a story to tell. Highly recommend this place if you are looking for a piece of furniture, looking to redecorate, for a new rug, jewelry. even for a special event!

After promising to pay to return the items purchased from them, they never followed through. I have started a Facebook page to warn other buyers to be very careful about dealing with them. Material Culture Ripoffs on FB

I have been their customers several years. And just today, after a short conversation with one of their auction guys, I know their auction is not so honest. They have fraud actions. They do not list reserved prices on their auction items. And during the action, their employee bid up the price to meet their reserved price. Then, if they end up to be high bidder, they will just put the item back into the next auctions.

I have seen many times that the same items shown up in several auctions. I asked them why. They told me that is what happened to them. Instead of passing the item, they 'bought' the item or bid up the price for other buyers. What a shame!

Cheap pan-Asian art at ridiculous mark ups. Yeah, it looks cool and the layout is gangster, but this isn't the real deal, people. This is all very cheap mass produced furniture that is very common in markets throughout the far east.

This is easily the most badass furniture and decor store in the Philadelphia area, maybe the state. Do you want an antique Indian dresser from reclaimed teakwood? They have 50 of them. Are you looking for a vintage rug from Turkey? They have a whole floor. Moroccan lanterns? Yes. A giant Buddha statue? Check. A life-size bear statue covered in sequins?

They have that too. Not only do they have everything and anything you wanted and didn't know you wanted, the prices are amazing! Not that you'll really have anything to compare them to, but you definitely won't feel ripped off. Extra bonus points for the crazy bathroom murals. You must see them to believe them.

I always wanted to stop in here, but every time I would see the sign for it, I would already drive past the exit on Route 1. This time I decided to purposely go there. The furniture is not cheap, but there are a lot of investment works of art all through out. The furniture has great detail and quality. It looks like a museum in here, which sparks my creativity and makes me want to buy a house then furnish it. I will be back for some more!

Truth be told, I couldn't tell you a thing about Art. My house is a mix of really good stuff with some Home Goods mixed in here and there. Well. I walked into this "store" and it's more of a museum. It's huge with some pretty amazing things. Be prepared to spend some time to really take it in and appreciate the different pieces. At first, it may seem like Pier I Imports with some styles - but it is a far cry from that!

I did purchase a framed tapestry which is a piece of Art! I could not be any more delighted with the purchase, the service and just everything about the experience. Their customer service is beyond superior. I am looking forward to returning and digest yet another visit. Some pictures to enjoy are included with this post, but I'm not sure if it shows the magnitude of the beauty of the piece. All hand beaded!

Amazing. Nothing else like it in Philly. If not for word of mouth, I would not have known this place existed. The store is set up in a HUGE warehouse in the middle of a large business complex. This place is just a wonderland of stuff from all over the world, mainly Asia, Africa & the Middle East. The 100,000 sq foot warehouse is filled floor to ceiling with anything you can imagine.

Need a one of a kind 19th century Indian cabinet? This is your place. Need a gigantic light fixture for the ballroom of your mansion? They got it. Looking for the perfect quirky piece for your hipster apartment? Perhaps an African fertility goddess statue? A hammered copper coffee table? Some Indonesian columns? A beautiful vintage Turkish rug? It's all here. Colors by Padmini is a nice addition to the store, with it's colorful curtains & pillows and heavenly smelling incense.

They now have auctions upstairs at Material Culture (and online) which occur pretty frequently. From artwork to artifacts, you can get GREAT deals at auction. If you like beautiful and unique home decor, it's worth the drive out to Material Culture. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

WOW is the best way to describe this place! I cannot believe I've lived in Philadelphia for close to 6 years and this was my first trip to Material Culture! This place has the coolest home decor for both indoor and outdoor use. The majority of their decor comes from India and China, according to Juan (salesman). Very unique screens, rugs, furniture and small tabletop decor.

We purchased a coffee table that was an old shutter from India turned into a coffee table. It looks great in our house! Love the selection and the uniqueness of the place! Staff is awesome too! Very friendly and helpful.

I don't even know what to call this place. Furniture? Decor? Kitsch? That's part of it. and if I was decorating a house in Philadelphia, I know where I'd be coming for really unique pieces that would transform a home into a conversation piece. I'm still a bit speechless from seeing the automobile themed caskets (yes, you read correctly) right next to the Persian rugs. Their 70's mod furniture left me breathless. I mean, stop reading this review and just go there, OK?