In 1999, after working in real estate for a decade, Michael Bruno moved from San Francisco to Paris in search of a career change. What he found were the French 40s—haut-monde design pieces by figures like André Arbus and Jean-Michel Frank. “Once you land in Paris, it is pretty easy to get swept away by good design,” says Bruno. He began scouring French flea markets for treasures, and in 2001 he launched 1stdibs.com, a commercial Web site that he hoped would open up the Paris antiques market to buyers worldwide.

Seven years later, the site, which galleries pay to join, lists more than seven million pieces annually—ranging from hypermodern Ettore Sottsass lamps to rare Venetian windows—that are sold by more than 500 galleries worldwide. The company reported total sales of $218 million in 2007.

This month, 1stdibs.com will add estate jewelry and vintage watches to its inventory. But even as the firm grows, it maintains the respect for traditional buying patterns that has been the secret of its success. “Buyers and sellers have always dealt with each other, and we didn’t change that,” says Bruno. “We just made it easier for them to find each other.”

Todd Merrill, a New York gallerist who specializes in 20th-century American and European design, has been a member since 2003 and lists six or seven new pieces each week on the site. He emphasizes the level of confidence it offers serious collectors. “Something like eBay is just a wide-open crapshoot,” Merrill says. “With 1stdibs you are dealing with a hand-selected group of dealers.”

Since Bruno personally vets each vendor, buyers can count on the authenticity of their purchases. As a result, typical transactions on 1stdibs.com involve more money than you might think. Bruno cites $40,000 to $50,000 as “the comfort zone for people to buy antiques from us,” adding that “the longer we are around, the more that rises.” Given those numbers, it’s not surprising that like-minded enterprises have been jumping on the bandwagon. These include Vista Art and Design, the brainchild of Mexican-born entrepreneur and former fashion designer Victor Alfaro, and Decorati, the ever-expanding commercial Web site founded by Shane Reilly, a designer who currently works in San Francisco and New York.

For his part, Bruno plans to expand his U.S. roster in 2008 by recruiting dealers from cities such as Dallas and San Diego. As for the buying audience, Bruno expects it will only continue to become more international. But, he jokes, “we’re not loading items on spaceships yet.”

"Net-Setter: Michael Bruno" originally appeared in the April 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's April 2008 Table of Contents.