From the carpet specialist Gallery Yacou who join us again at the Winter Decorative Fair.

As Italian carpets are few and far between, we have selected this Turkish carpet for the foyer display as it would be a piece typically enjoyed by Italian home owners in the C19th…

It’s an attractive late 19th Century Ushak carpet from Turkey measuring 5.44 x 3.41 metres (17′ 10″ x 11′ 2″ ) ~ a highly decorative early piece with a rare ivory field and spacious large pattern and an unusual square format.

Amongst the secrets and pleasures you can see in the Winter Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair, alongside other pieces from three centuries of Italian design in the foyer display you might catch sight of this large (height:2.26m x width:4.3m) Mario Fortuny block printed cotton panel from c1920 as shown by Rhona Valentine. Rhona Valentine has an important collection of rare early Mariano Fortuny panels, documents and costume for sale dating from the early 1900’s up to 1949. They also have a large selection of cushions made from early fragments by Mariano Fortuny.

Rhona, based in Petworth, has an extensive collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century European and Islamic textiles and costume pieces including embroideries, needlework, crewelwork (see below), velvets, paisley shawls, cushions & hangings.

PS For my information as much as anything… you may all know this already…  but I didn’t: According to Wikipedia: Crewelwork, is a decorative form of surface embroidery using wool and a variety of different embroidery stitches to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old. It was used in the Bayeux Tapestry, in Jacobean embroidery and in the Quaker tapestry… The crewel technique is not a counted-thread embroidery (like canvas work), but a style of free embroidery. It was in the 17th Century, its heyday, and now traditionally worked on a closely woven linen twill ground “Jacobean linen twill” fabric, typically linen or cotton. This linen is part of the design and many stitches allow the sight of the linen through and around the design.

This week’s Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair will have over 135 exhibitors, with five new to our Battersea, London fair:

from Jenna Burlingham Fine Art : Leonard Appelbee (British, 1914 – 2000), Landscape at Orovide, Var, 1951

Sue Killinger from Great Missenden, Bucks, who is well known on the antique fairs circuit but makes her first ever appearance at Battersea, with a pleasing mix of smaller antique furniture and antique accessories.
Jenna Burlingham Fine Art (with a gallery in Kingsclere, Hants) specialises in 20^th Century British paintings, sculpture, prints and ceramics as well as work by selected contemporary artists. “We aim to make the art world more accessible by providing friendly, expert advice and guidance.”  They feature many established modern British names with proven market records as well as carefully selected emerging artists working in the Modern British tradition and whom Jenna believes “have future potential”.  A wide variety of art across the £500 to £30,000 price range, as well as a selection of paintings, prints and ceramics under £500.
James Holiday from Hook Norton, Oxon, still enjoys a strong export business to the USA (his father and brother are based there as antiques dealers); his stock of antiques is mixed Continental and British with a wide range of smaller accessories and pictures too. Amongst highlights on his stand will be a North Italian red tortoiseshell cabinet on stand with brass and marble inlay circa 1740. In great condition it is fitted with drawers and a central cupboard.
Ted Wolter is an American dealer now based in Paris.  His stock is period Continental and English antiques, plus a more modern inventory, including pieces by Kjaerholm, Fabricius and other Scandinavians as well as paintings, drawings and sculpture with a more contemporary feel.
Simply Antiques, from Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds, bring a new aspect to the Decorative Fair with a delightful selection of highly collectable C18th and C19th card cases (a very elegant way to carry one’s business cards) and other objets vertu (beautifully decorated smaller items such as boxes, picture frames etc in precious metal, shagreen, tortoiseshell and the like).

Shown above: from Jenna Burlingham Fine Art : Leonard Appelbee (British, 1914 – 2000), Landscape at Orovide, Var, 1951. Signed and dated. Oil on canvas. 25 1/4 x 30 1/4 in (64 x 76.7 cm).

As usual, there will be a themed selling display in the Decorative Antiques Fair foyer… and on this occasion it will feature Italian design of the past three centuries.

All items displayed are offered by exhibitors and will include a fine pair of early C19th commodes from Geoffrey Stead, a Fornasetti dining table from Holly Johnson, a rare small painted Venetian centre table c1750 with original decorative floral paint finish from Robin Cox Antiques (as seen here), and a superb and large (approx. 2.5m x 4.5m) Mario Fortuny block printed cotton panel c1920 from Rhona Valentine.

I always get told off if we promise that anything specific is going to be at the Decorative Antiques Fair but the below was attached to a press relase last autumn to give the press a whiff of what sort of objects and objets would be at our 2012 antique fairs.

If you’d like to see this full size, please click the image or the link below. Use the back button to get back to the Diary.

Decorative Antiques Fair January 2012 Picture Sheet

This is obviously just a small selection of what you might see at the 2012 January Decorative Fair with over 140 exhibitors. The event offers interior designers and private buyers an inspirational opportunity to purchase antiques, 20th century design, works of art and pictures, decorative accessories and collectors’ items from the 17th century to the present.

You can see a list of all exhibitors at the next Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair

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!

Colour & Texture at The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair

While the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair is on and we’re there NOW, we’ve spotted a couple of really cheerful stands full of colourful textiles. This one (above) is Molly Hogg, who has a superb collection of textiles from around the globe.

Rob Blacks (right) stand is full of beautifully-upholstered chairs and sofas, using antique and vintage textiles. He has enjoyed a number of sales on opening day and since, but has a good supply still available.

Hurry hurry… ]]> http://www.decorativefair.com/antiquesinteriordesigndiary/index.php/2011/10/colourful-dealers-colourful-textiles-colourful-stands-colourful-antique-fair/feed/ 0 http://www.decorativefair.com/antiquesinteriordesigndiary/index.php/2011/09/the-festival-of-britain-foyer-well-recievd-at-decorative-antiques-fair/ http://www.decorativefair.com/antiquesinteriordesigndiary/index.php/2011/09/the-festival-of-britain-foyer-well-recievd-at-decorative-antiques-fair/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:04:09 +0000 London Antiques Fair Diarist http://www.decorativefair.com/antiquesinteriordesigndiary/?p=2590 Post War Furniture & Lamps & Wallpaper… For Sale

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