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…

Orlando Harris has many fans amongst his clientele… “Orlando Harris is a great pleasure to deal with – makes collecting fun with his irreverent eye” says David Linley, and designer to the stars Nicky Haslam comments: “Orlando has the most exceptional eye and an amazing knack for finding rare and beautiful objects and furniture“.

Orlando, whose business, Blanchard Limited, based at Core One, in London’s Fulham Road, was established in 1950, is known the world over for its unusual mix of Continental, English country house and C20th pieces, which create an exciting depth and range of choice.  Orlando buys what he likes, so be prepared for the unexpected!

We have pinched this picture (above) from the Blanchard website – which you can see here for more info…

And for more info on all exhibitors at the Autumn Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair next week check our main website

Drew Pritchard joins the Decorative Antique Fair from Conwy in Wales, with a pleasing variety of architectural, garden, decorative & country house antiques.

The photo Drew has sent us of gives a good idea of the slightly quirky look and of the mix of stock he will bring to the event.  It shows a Swedish chair, a 19th Century terracotta mastiff, and an industrial light.

Come to the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in London’s Battersea May 3-8th 2011 and you can see another of our previous & experienced exhibitors. Jonathan Swire was one of the dealers who first brought fossils as ’sculpture’ to the Decorative Fair.  These have become very popular as decorative items for rooms mixing old and new, just as Jonathan does with his space at the Decorative Antique Fair as you can see pictured below, right.

We don’t know if this will be at the Decorative Fair but the picture on the left shows an example of what Jonathon has in store for us. It’s an Orthoceras Spear which is 380 million years old. Found in The Western Sahara Desert, South Eastern Morocco, this fossil is about 2 metres tall. And I rather like the look of it.

Jonathon says he’s ”very pleased to be able to offer a superb range of fossils, natural sculptures pulled from the earth and lovingly worked upon by skilled craftsmen”. We hope to see a small sample of the sort of fossils he has in stock at the Decorative Fair. Each fossil is different, colours vary as do sizes. If you are interested in a particular type of fossil, or would like them to search for a special type of fossil, then ask Jonathon at the fair.

Amongst other collectables and beautifuls he also has lighting and decorative pieces, 20th Century furniture and industrial furniture, mirrors and ohter antique furniture.

I hope that Maria doesn’t mind but I’ve borrowed one of her pictures… you can see the rest at her Haute Decor blog.  The pictures are better than mine so before I show some of these, look at this  – just one of the 130 exhibitors at this January’s antiques fair…

Great looking stand – great photo.  PS After asking if anyone can someone identify the exhibitor for me, I checked my own photos to see in fact that it was Augustus Brandt (I try to include the exhibitors name on the stand when I take pictures – just in case I need to know… like now!). Visit Augustus Brandt’s site too.

Painted furniture was ‘on trend’ in April at London’s most popular event for decorators who seek unusual antiques and statement pieces for interior design… Here are two examples of antique Continental pieces that sold at the April 2010 antiques fair:

A late C19th petite French bookcase (small enough to make a pretty bedside cabinet) with original painted decoration (as seen left). And an earlier, c.1840s East German painted commode of grand proportions but with perfectly delicate decoration (below right). Perfect for the Marie Antoinette ‘boudoir’ look.

Our next Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair at Battersea is in the Autumn on 28th September to 3rd October 2010. 

Meanwhile… they’re putting their heads together to make the Autumn fair a classic too – like these sycamore wood milliners’ heads (German circa 1920). These were shown by Spencer Swaffer (a new exhibitor at the Spring Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair), alongside a Swedish sofa, circa 1800, in original warm apricot paint and a wood and gesso figure of St Francis of Assisi, Italian circa 1820.

Antique Bureau-Plat, Contemporary Style in Faux Malachite Veneer

Now, we’ve noticed one of France’s leading contemporary furniture companies has gone all-out to produce new versions of 18th century French furniture, even including ormolu trimmings and festoons. Visitors to The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair will find it an inspiring source of antique French furniture, which will very probably offer better value for money than buying a reproduction version; and rich colours can be found alongside traditional polished wood finishes.

Louis XVI Style, Antique Gilded Chairs

Regular exhibitor Leuchars specialises in fine 18th and 19th century French furniture - generously proportioned commodes, fine writing desks, and upholstered carved-framed chairs are always offered. Magus Antiques is another good source of traditional and fine French designs, as are Antiques 4 Limited, Wakelin & Linfield, Maggie Charpentier, Lee Wright, Brownrigg@Home and DJGreen.

Country and painted French furniture also abounds at the Fair.  Come and see the next Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in London’s Battersea Park in April.

We pictured a wonderful Dutch C.18th bombe commode the other day (as seen here again) in a piece about mixing styles up (antique & modern/exotic) as part of the interior design mode.  And in doing so it made me worry that with all the efforts that we put in here to make sure that everybody knows that we have all sorts of decorative antiques & textiles that we sometimes forget to say…

… Yes We Have Antique Furniture Too!

We do have a great range of good antique furniture too at our Decorative Fair! English & Continental, decorative & painted, fine and characteristic wood!

The Fair is on now… so come and see it before (or on) Sunday.

* Actually I bet there’s a banana here somewhere as a decorative motif or feature.  Prizes for anyone who can find it or them!

Shown at the Decorative Fair in 2009