From Budapest to Beverly Hills: How Gábor Újvári Built a Global Antiques Empire
From The Business of Antiques by Toma Clark Haines
May 28, 2026 · 1h 14m · Season 6 · Episode 4
About this episode
Gábor Újvári shares his journey from a young antique seller in Hungary to building a global antiques empire.
In this episode of The Business of Antiques , host Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co, sits down with legendary Hungarian antique dealer and entrepreneur Gábor Újvári, the man who single-handedly launched 1stDibs across Europe and founded the curated fine art and antiques platform ArtOrigo. Gábor shares his remarkable journey from selling antiques at Lake Balaton as a nine-year-old to specializing in Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and Bauhaus in Budapest, running auction houses in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, and ultimately building ArtOrigo which is an invitation-only marketplace with zero returns in seven years. Along the way, he and Toma discuss the power of tenacity, the value of self-education, the importance of your word as your handshake in the European antiques trade, and why patience and building brick by brick are still the secrets to lasting success in the antiques business. Check out the links from our episode. Gábor / ArtOrigo: artorigo.com | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | X Toma: Instagram | antiquesdiva.com | Substack
People in this episode
Host: Toma Clark Haines
Guest: Gábor Újvári
Topics covered
- antiques
- entrepreneurship
- art
- business success
- self-education
- European trade
Keywords
- antiques
- Gábor Újvári
- ArtOrigo
- 1stDibs
- entrepreneurship
- Art Deco
- Art Nouveau
- Bauhaus
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: 1stDibs, ArtOrigo
Places: Lake Balaton, Budapest, Palm Springs, Los Angeles
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