The good news about the Nasdaq crash is cheap secondhand furniture. Here’s how to get it.

It’s a dark day when Joe Bandwidth, unhappy dotcom executive, finds himself on the phone with Eliot Millman, commission auctioneer. It signals the passing of an era, the end of the party. Those fancy modular cubicles, those elegant pieces of ergonomic seating, the beautiful Italian light fixtures venture capitalists paid for when the world was full of promise–they’re all that’s left of Joe’s ambitions. His staff has been laid off, his friendship with his co-founder went down in flames, and he’s on the phone, alone in his soon-to-be vacated, $25,000-a-month offices, asking Millman to sell off the Aerons for whatever price he can get.

These days Millman, whose liquidation outfit is based in New York (Eliot B. Millman Company), is a busy man. His is what analysts call a “reverse-cycle” business, one whose growth and success depend on the demise and failure of other enterprises. And as Internet-based companies tumble into the gutter of recession, reverse-cyclists thrive. “Oh yeah, we just did a couple [of dotcom office auctions] last-week,” Millman says. “One on 57th, the other on Madison Avenue. Herman Miller, Haworth, Knoll–we had probably 200 lots go out the door.” This economic schadenfreude is good news for many in Millman’s line of work: today hundreds of liquidators across the country are refining their business models into a very lucrative art–and that’s good news for designers whose clients want Vitra furniture on IKEA budgets.

Typically, a liquidator places an ad in the local paper on a company’s behalf, arrives at their office on an appointed day, finds an impromptu lectern from which to run an auction, and then turns whatever physical assets are left in the room into cold cash. Two dozen or so folks–designers, small business owners, and college kids–sift through light fixtures and coffee makers, jotting down lot numbers and calculating how much they might be willing to spend. During any given week, 30 of these auctions may be scheduled around the country.

Wellness, Inc., a health-services company in Naperville, Illinois, was looking to decorate its new office space, and found itself one morning in an ice rink, bidding on the fancy furniture of a failed ISP. “I bought a Herman Miller Aeron chair for $250, down from $750,” says Jeff Lindblade, the company’s director of technology development. “And they had custom-designed conference tables which would have been $10,000 a piece; I got one for $2,000.”

Nowadays, scavengers don’t even have to leave home: liquidators like Cowan Alexander (www.cowanalexander.com), Gordon Brothers (www.gordonbrothers.com), and DoveBid (www.dovebid.com) joined Bid4Assets (www.bid4-assets.com) in conducting their auctions online, (Web auctions make it impossible to paw and bounce on the furniture, but some would-be buyers may find that bidding with no clothes on transforms them into cutthroat competitors.)

Credit for the dotcom chop-shop concept goes to Bid4Assets CEO Thomas Kohn, who founded his online liquidation venture in 1998, ignoring the heady dotcom optimism he observed all around him. His skepticism paid off. In August 2000, Bid4Assets became the first Internet company to liquidate the assets of another Internet company, CivicZone. The company puts out a steady stream of tragic press releases: “Happily Ever After? Not Quite. Bid4Assets.com To Liquidate Bankrupt Bridal Business.” But thanks to the company, an incredible variety of high-end furniture can be salvaged every day from the brutal economic smackdown.

DoveBid is currently offering Design Formula’s Le Corbusier long chairs, which retail at just under $700, at a starting bid of $1. Cowan Alexander moved dozens of Herman Miller Aeron chairs at its liquidation of Katmango.com in San Francisco in March, and when Furniture.com (which struggled valiantly to stay afloat until this year) turned its inventory over to Cowan Alexander in April, a crowd of Boston bidders made off with hundreds of items.

Those hoping to get 60 to 70 percent off the usual $1,000 price tag for a Herman Miller Red Super Deluxe desk system will find the most favorable conditions in the Bay Area, where the cafes are full of former dotcommies and where liquidation companies have found a treasure trove of bankruptcy. But entrepreneurs sank investment capital into extravagant furniture all over the country, so if you keep your eye on the newspaper classifieds in almost any American city (and, of course, online), that Barcelona chair your client wants for the reception area is probably there for the taking. And if they go out of business, you know who they can call.

Things we miss about the old office…

The rapid evolution of the workplace has left behind many tools and customs that we at Interiors once imagined would be with us forever. Some, we are happy to let go of, like acceptably inferior roles and compensation for women, or like laborious card-fling systems. Others we regret losing, even if they’ve been superseded by more efficient technologies and services–sturdy electric typewriters with perfect springy action, dictaphone machines and stenography pads, regular mail deliveries that gave enforced breathing room to schedules, and the aura of formality and protectiveness that greeted us when we first spilled into the labor market, 20 years ago. Taking a break from planning this issue, we binged on reminiscences that evolved into a list of relics that call forth powerful associations with a not-so-distant past. Then we asked photographer Tony Law to illustrate several specimens for our own personal gallery. We invite you to contribute thoughts about these workplace objects and the practices to which the y relate, or to add your own entries to the list.

Telex machines

Office attire

Coffee carts

Elevator operators

Smoking

Three-martini lunches

Flirting

IBM Selectrics

Natural light

Onion skin

Wite-Out

Carbons

Smell of mimeograph ink

Intercoms

Leaving at five

Never calling your boss by his or her first name

50-year tenure celebrations

Drafting boards

Secretarial pools

Switchboard phones

Busy signals

Lunch hours

Brass directional signs

Paperweights

Company names hand-painted on glass doors

Hardwood floors

Curtains

Brown suits with vests and wide ties

Skirts below the knee

Water coolers

Hand-cranked pencil sharpeners

Name plates

Venetian blinds

Windows that open all the way

Carvel birthday cakes

Interoffice memos

Rubber stamps

Desk sets

Manually revolving calendars

Wet copiers

Ladies’ lounges

Hat trees

Walnut paneling

Punchclocks

Telegraph deliveries

Men’s room attendants

Tape adding machines

Mag card typewriters

Rotary phones

Where stained-glass saints greet steel-and-glass facades in the wake of a New World economy.

Dublin is in the midst of a renaissance due to a booming economy (dubbed the Celtic Tiger) and a renewed sense of confidence. The buzz is evident everywhere, from the bustling waterfront along the River Liffey to the winding cobblestone lanes of the Temple Bar neighborhood. While the elements that Dublin is known for–Georgian townhouses, antique shops, and smoky, atmospheric pubs–remain, they now sit alongside steel-and-glass facades of trendy new hotels, modern furniture shops, and sleek cocktail lounges where martinis outnumber pints of stout. Today, Ireland’s capital is very much an alluring mix of Old World charm and cosmopolitan flair.

THREE MUST-SEES

Trinity College

Famous for its thick stone, ivy-covered buildings, Trinity is the oldest university in Dublin, dating from 1592. Head to the Old Library (1712-32), designed by Thomas Burgh, for a peek at the priceless Book of Kells. The ninth-century illuminated manuscript of the four gospels is on display in the Treasury, at the end of what was originally an open colonnade. Then make your way to the Long Room, where a stunning barrel-vaulted ceiling spans a collection of 200,000 rare books. Note the copy of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic and the dozens of marble busts of prominent Irishmen that line the room (Jonathan Swift, Wolfe Tone, and others). College Green; 6772941; Mon.-Fri. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat-Sun. 10 a.m-4 p.m.

Dublin Castle

Built in l204 during the reign of King John of England, Dublin Castle has been extensively rebuilt over the centuries. The most interesting aspects of the massive complex are the State Apartments, dating from the 18th century. Visit St. Patrick’s Hall (where Ireland’s presidents are inaugurated), which features several ceiling paintings, including one of Ireland’s patron saint on the Hill of Slane in 433 AD The Battleaxe Landing, named after the former bodyguard of the Lord Lieutenants, is rich with Waterford crystal chandeliers and carpets handmade in Donegal. The Throne Room bears a decorative cornice and a l7th-century gilded throne, last used by King George V of England. Dame St.; 6777129; Mon-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat-Sun. 2 p.m.-5 p.m.

Christ Church Cathedral

Though a cathedral has stood on this site since 1038, the current stone structure dates from 1172 and was built under the Earl of Pembroke, better known as Strongbow, the Anglo-Norman who invaded Ireland in 1170. It was extensively remodeled in the 1870s by architect George Edmund Street in Gothic and Romanesque styles. Of particular interest are the 15th-century brass lectern and carved oak pews in the nave, and in the baptistry, a font made of Irish marble surrounded by a series of stained-glass windows depicting various saints. The 12th-century crypt is said to be Dublin’s oldest structure. Christ Church Place; 6778099; Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

Dublin Writers Museum

Set in a splendid 18th-century Georgian townhouse, this museum celebrates Ireland’s rich history of literature. Letters, manuscripts, and photographs from the likes of Yeats Joyce, Beckett, Shaw, and Wilde are on display, as well as memorabilia, such as a pair of Beckett’s eyeglasses and playwright Brendan Behan’s typewriter, reported to have been thrown through a pub window. Upstairs, check out the ornamented colonnade and gilded frieze in the Galley of Writers room and the plasterwork ceiling in the Gorham Library. 18 Parnell Square North; 8722077; Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Bank of Ireland

Edward Pearce originally constructed this imposing building in 1728 to house the Irish Parliament. It functions today, with stately Corinthian and Ionic columns, as the city’s leading banking center. The House of Lords chamber, little changed since the Parliament sat in it, is where you’ll find treasures such as carved oak paneling, an 18th-century crystal chandelier, and tapestries depicting the 1689 Siege of Derry and the 1690 Battle of the Boyne. There is also a fine mahogany clock and a silver mace. Guided tours are conducted on Tuesdays; otherwise ask a porter to direct you to the chamber. 2 College Green; 6776801; Mon.-Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Guinness Storehouse

Dublin’s renowned brewery, which dates from 1760, now boasts a spectacular new museum complex showcasing all things Guinness. The interiors of a historic turn-of-the-20th-century building located on the compound have been modernized with a stunning steel-and-glass atrium shaped like a giant pint glass. The tour begins with an explanation of the brewing process and moves into exhibitions on cooperage (the art of making barrels out of wood) and advertising. The displays are interactive–step inside the giant vats, touch the barley–so kids will love it. Parents will appreciate free samples of the potent black stuff in the Gravity Bar, whose top-floor attractions are the Panoramic city views. St. James Gate, 4536700, daily 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.

WHERE TO STAY

The hotel of the moment is the Morrison (Ormond Quay, 8872400, doubles from $292), minimalist hideaway on the banks of the River Liffey. Ninety-two chic rooms feature iridescent velvet bedcovers and dark wood furniture with cream accents. \ A perennial favorite is the posh 146-room Merrion (Upper Merrion St., 6030600, doubles from $320), fashioned from four Georgian townhouses. Be sure to visit the oak-paneled bar and the garden decorated with box hedges and fountains. \ The Clarence (6-8 Wellington Quay, 6709000, doubles from $250), owned by members of the rock band U2, attracts a fashionable crowd to a modern decor in the Temple Bar district. The 50 rooms (ask for one that overlooks the river) are done up with muted colors and blond-oak furniture.

WHERE TO EAT

Many of Dublin’s top restaurants can be found within its finest hotels. One such establishment is Halo (Ormond Quay, 8872400), housed in a soaring bilevel space at the Morrison Hotel and serving innovative fusion cuisine. \ It’s wise to book early at Patrick Guilbaud (Upper Merrion St., 6764192), the much-lauded restaurant attached to the Merrion Hotel. Chef Guilbaud’s gourmet dishes, such as Connemara lobster with apple and lemon jus and veal sweetbreads with wild mushroom sauce, have garnered rave reviews–and two Michelin stars. \ Peacock Alley (St. Stephen’s Green, 4787015), in the Fitzwilliam Hotel, is getting attention for its slick, minimalist Terence Conran-designed interiors, not to mention chef Conrad Gallagher’s flavorful Mediterranean/New World food.

WHERE TO SHOP

Hip Dubliners are flocking to Louise Kennedy (56 Merrion Square South, 6620056), a boutique in a Georgian townhouse, to stock up on Philip Treacy hats, Lulu Guinness bags, and Kennedy’s own line of clothing. Plasterwork detailing on the ceilings and fireplaces with marble mantelpieces complement the original central staircase.  Francis Street is ground zero for Dublin’s antiques trade. One of the best shops is O’Sullivan Antiques (43-44 Francis St., 4541143), featuring 18th- and 19th-century period furniture, such as Victorian armchairs, Georgian tables, chandeliers and brass candle-sticks (owner Chantal O’Sullivan also has a shop in New York).  For 20th-century furniture, head to O (3 Cows Lane, 6770679). The eclectic collection ranges from Danish teak credenzas and Eames swivel chairs to copper light fixtures.