For those of you not familiar with the offering at the wonderful Decorative Antiques Fair, I thought I’d show some images of exhibitors and visitors from antiques fairs last year.

Of course there’ll be new pieces but none of them will be any newer! If you want to get some more ideas about individual items or styles, please check the articles from the list on the right under Decorative Antiques CATEGORIES.

Meanwhile showing at previous Decorative Fairs…

… Showing (above left) classic 20th century furniture and decorative items; (right) antique, decorative & collectable glass; (and below) decorative and painted furniture.

Please have a look around the Antiques & Interior Design Diary for more of the breadth of the pieces you’ll find at the Decorative Fair…

Great British vintage post-war brands that have appeared at the Decoratve Antique Fairs include Ercol, Hille, Knoll and Heals.  More recent furniture designers are starting to appear for sale; early works by John Makepeace for example.

Poltrona Frau of Italy at the Decorative Fair

The Decorative Fair has a particularly strong offering of French, Italian and Scandinavian post war design, by good manufacturers and named designers.  From Italy you will find works by Fornasetti, Gaston Rinaldi, Paolo Buffa, Arflex, Poltrona Frau, and Ico Parisi …

French makers and designers include Maison Jansen, Verner Panton, Rene Herbst, Jean Royere, Maison Bagues …

From Scandinavia, particularly Denmark, well-known furniture designs appearing at the Decorative Antiques Fair include pieces by Fritz Hansen, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Alvar Aalto, Hans Brattrud, Scandia, and Aaro Saarinen.

Recently the modern furniture dealers at the Fair have brought some exceptional pieces by the Memphis Group, a design collaborative established in 1981 by Italian Ettore Sottsass.  The group designed post-modern furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass and metal objects for about six years only, and was inspired by Art Deco, Pop Art and 1950s kitsch, especially in the use of colour.  Works have been displayed in Museums around the world, and a number of collectors are starting to acquire works, as they are relatively scarce.

1950s, 60s and early 70s design collectables are extremely popular at the Decorative Fair, particularly glass and ceramics.  Continental glass sculptural vases, which make such effective display pieces, can be found by Murano, Vannes, Whitefriars and Holmegaard.  Ceramics by Rosenthal always sell well, and British post-war ceramics by Poole Pottery have become very fashionable.  Ceramic vases designed by the famous florist, Constance Spry, regularly appear for sale, and are snapped up as they really do create great flower displays.

English and Japanese examples of post-war studio pottery, art deco glass vases and decorative panels, unusually dramatic and large scale ceramic pots by early C20th makers all appear and sell regularly at the Fair.

More than 20% of designs offered at the Fair are 20^th century pieces.

I’m suggesting  that a couple of the Decorative Fair exhibitorscould write a piece for the “Diary”, mentioning the makers and designers that they sell.  More on this soon…

(PS For British 20^th century designers, please see the Antiques & Interior Design Diary posts on the Foyer before the last fair in September/October which you can see here…)

I asked the question recently of the Decorative Fair’s London team… what do we call the 20th Century antiques and design pieces that sell so well at the antique & textiles fair. Is it “Vintage”? That doesn’t feel quite right to me (which usuallly means it’s fine by others mind)… Should it have the words “mid-century”,  “modern”, “20th century” or “post-war”?  Is it or are they “design”, “style” or “antiques”. And then the more avant garde descriptions like… well “avant garde”!

I was sent various lists and these included the above in various mixes and matches, such as Avant garde design, Vintage design, Vintage antiques, 20th century design - and 20th century decorative arts and Modern decorative arts – right up our street at the Decorative Fair.

Then we had more of the arts! 20th century art/Modern art/Contemporary art. And the moderns… Modern design furniture/Modernistdesign or furniture or style.

And then there are the more specific periods such as 1950s style. Incidentally when does “post war” finish? And when does Post-modern design start – and finish for that matter?

That’s before we got to Retro style (eg “Retro style furniture”) and Retro look and the last loners all on their own such as Minimalist style, Bauhaus-inspired and Architect-designed furniture. Does that cover it?

And finally the question still stands… what is the best way for the “Antiques & Interior Design Diary” call it for short-hand? How about mid-&-late-20th-century-modern-&-post modern-(&-war) -contemporary-design-&-art-style-design. Whatever you’d call it, you’ll find the best examples to be found at the next Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea, London in January!

As mentioned in the last post in the Antiques & Interior Design Diary, the Festival of Britain themed foyer has been extremely well received.

So far sales have included the c1960 Terence Conran-designed wicker chairs (the table is still for sale), pictured here.

On the right, another item sold from the foyer on opening day was this ‘Festival’ floor lamp, designed for the Festival of Britain, offered by 52 Meters.  Many items are still for sale… Such as the Hillestack bentwood chairs in the foreground (four of them) were designed by Robin Day for Hille in the 1950s and are offered for sale by Tim Smith-Vincent priced very reasonably at £975.  The metal-rimmed tables (dining and coffee) aluminium and holoplast-veneer from the BA range are by Ernest Race, and formerly owned by the Race family, offered by James Strang.  The 1950s painting on the wall by John R. Smith is from Darnley Fine Art.

On the left, another corner of the foyer, this time showing in the foreground a beautiful rosewood table designed by Robert Heritage for Archie Shine, offered by Holly Johnson.  On the wall to the left is the Graham Sutherland wallpaper.  The set of eight dining chairs are in rosewood by Andrew J. Milne, and are for sale from 52 Meters.

See Visitor Info at The Decorative Fair

Did you know that the Battersea venue for the Decorative Antiuques & textiles Fair is on one of the sites of the Festival of Britain?

Please see our last post on the Festival of Britain at the Decorative Antiques Fair… and for some extra bonus points, some more information…Gordon Russell, chairman of the Utility Furniture Advisory Committee*, was a key mover in the formation of The Council of Industrial Design (COID), which was set up to improve standards in industrial design.

Under Russell’s chairmanship, only furniture which met with the requirements both of the functionalist and pared down principles,  were commissioned.

Good examples can be purchased in the foyer display at The Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair at Battersea Park ON NOW.

* Do you think 1950’s humour picked up on the acronym for this?

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Board of Trade believed that design would lead the economic recovery for Britain and thus germinated the idea for the Festival of Britain.

This Autumn’s Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair, whose Battersea Park venue is on one of the original sites of the Festival of Britain, is featuring in its foyer display the best of British design from 1951 to 1961, with stock drawn from some of the C20th dealers at the antiques fair.

Items of note will include several original pieces from the 1951 Festival of Britain such as:  the Maquette commissioned for the Festival of Britain – “Root Bodied Forth” designed by Mitzi Solomon (also known for designing the famous Bafta Maquette) displayed at the entrance to the Festival (shown above left); a Garden chair by AJ Milne designed for the terrace; a vellum table with the festival star ~ designed by Abram Games c. 1951 ~ provenance; estate of Sir Robert Matthews, the architect of the Festival Hall) (shown above right); a Festival of Britain lamp (as shown on the left).

Other key items for sale will include important pieces from designers such as Gordon Russell (see the walnut and mahogany sideboard ~ right); Ernest Race (see the Gold Medal winner, 1954 Milan Triennial Fair Ernest Race BA3 Chair, below right); Lucienne Day; Archie Shine (see the elegant rosewood drum table, designed by Robert Heritage in 1959 for Archie Shine, left)  and Howard Keith.

Have you been yet to the Decorative Antiques & Ttextiles Fair?  Open until and including Sunday this week.

Don’t forget that courtesy transport to the Battersea Park venue is available from in front of the Sloane Sq. Hotel.  We hope to see you there this week.

As I’ve said before it’s always good to get mentions on other websites and great when they focus on one of the specialist areas of our antiques fair (and in this case not so antique). Vintage Seekers which covers everything collectible from Design to Fashion to Motoring to Watches to Wine thought fit to mention our “fashionable” fair. We hope to see a few new faces in the pursuit of the fashionable and the collectable.

Holly Johnson, based in Macclesfield, is an expert in important C19th & C20th furniture & works of art.  In particular she has a passion for Victorian exhibition furniture of the highest calibre, and in contrast to this, the designs of Piero Fornasetti, the early C20th Italian master of architectural trompe l’oeil furniture and accessories.

Holly has some great modern British furniture designs she is bringing to the Fair, some of which will feature in our foyer display.  Shown here is a 1950s Gordon Russell walnut & mahogany sideboard (right), and an elegant rosewood drum table designed by Robert Heritage in 1959 (above, left).

James Strang (left), and 52 Meters (below,right), are both brilliant sources of named designer furniture and accessories, including works of art. 

Both dealers have done great business already this year at Battersea in both the January and the May Decorative Fairs. Both show a fabulous selection of items to tempt lovers of serious modernism.  Design originals abound on both stands.

Be sure to hunt out similar peices if you are serious about strictly designed pieces, at the next Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in London’s Battersea in September~October.

You can see more about 52meters at their website.

These two stands at January’s antiques & textiles fair were situated across the aisle from each other and they’re both back again at the May 2011 Decorative Fair.

The two offer complimentary stock that appeals to lovers of chic C20th design. On the left here is  Tim Smith-Vincent and on the right C20C. Dealers Tim Smith-Vincent & Mark Page of C20C are also friends, so visitors who love modernism have double the chance of finding the right accessory, seating or storage items from either of these two, as they will happily suggest items from each other’s stands ~ depending on what the customer wants!. 

Tim tends to have lots of Scandinavian glass and ceramics and Mark beautifully upholstered Danish chairs and sofas. All very Scandinavian! Both do great lighting.