News & Diary for The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair, Battersea, London
from the front line…
Opening day… was fantastic for large number of exhibitors… massive gate much busier than ever… I will get a blog to you and some pics asap today…To which I look forward as unfortunately some of us can’t get to the Decorative Antiques Fair until later on in the week.
Hamptons Antiques: Regulars and Returnees to the Autumn Decorative Antiques Fair…We’re open any minute at the London antiques and decorative arts extravaganza this morning ~ otherwise known to the world as The Decorative Fair! Please come along to see us and our 130 exhibiting dealers. You can see the whole list of exhibitors at this Decorative Antiques & textiles Fair here.
Meanwhile here is one such: Hamptons Antiques have done our fairs a number of times over the years. We love their choice selection of collectable tea caddies and boxes, all of which make excellent decorative items.
This exceptional Anglo-Indian Vizagapatam sewing box (top left), inlaid with engraved bone and radiated starburst top, dates from around 1820 – it has a typical Regency shape. The coastal Indian city of Vizagapatam was a major trading port in the 18th and 19th centuries and this style of decorative inlay, made in India and exported to the UK & Europe, has become synonymous with the local region.
Hamptons also bring a lovely tea caddy, which was recently featured in the BBC2 quiz, Antiques Master (above right). In the shape of an urn, this too is Regency, dating from around 1820, and was made in the Spa Town of Ischl in Austria.
It’s Opening Day Tomorrow At London’s Decorative Antique Textiles & Arts Fair. Where Will You Be?The Battersea, London Decorative Fair opens tomorrow and the queues will be outside the doors… We’ll bring news after the doors open.
In the meantime, another featured returning exhibitor to mention…
Anthony Cole used to exhibit at every Decorative Fair, before he moved to the South West of England. So we’re extra delighted he is joining us again at this autumns Antique Fair. he’ll be there with a good mix of affordable, C17th to C20th stylish traditional English furniture, some decorative antiques (mirrors lamps and miscellany) and with some great 20th century art, such as this painting by Reginald Bass.
It shows a view of St Paul’s cathedral seen across the Thames during the blitz, and dates from around 1950. Approx 30″ x 40″
Only two days to go to opening and we though that we’d also highlight some of our regular exhibitors and returnees to the Decorative Fair.
Most of the exhibitors at The Decorative Fair come back time and again ~ they love the relaxed atmosphere and our great crowd of visitors… and buyers, obviously! From affordable 20th century design accessories to fine English furniture, our dealers have the knack of finding chic and interesting stock, and always seem to know just what the professional interior design crowd want and need right now.
First up in our “returnees” is Fine furniture specialists Wakelin & Linfield can be relied upon for good quality antique English and Continental furniture, mixed with some decorative and later pieces. They plan to bring this rather lovely Art Deco period desk to the Fair… this would look very glamorous in any smart home. In solid maple, it has decorative ebony mounts, and has a distinctive Continental look.
Come and see it!
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.
You won’t actually have to go outside to see our new European exhibitor, Peter Sohier from Belgium. Peter is a dealer in decorative antiques & garden ornament, is a member of the UK’s Decorative Collective website and will be snuggly inside the Marquee (now “Battersea Evolution”) with the rest of us at the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair
Here are a two images of his stock we found at his website. Above, a circa 1920s cast stone statue of a schoolgirl, and right, a rather nice Victorian cast iron étagère (or plant stand). We also hope he brings some of the C19th wire-work garden chairs as seen on his website. Charmant!
The Decorative Antique Fair is delighted to welcome Geoffrey Stead, whose stock of C17th, C18th & early C19th European furniture & decorative works of art has long been held in high regard both by collectors and important interior designers.
Geoffrey has a wonderful eye for a statement piece, – as these examples show – be it an elegant Italian commode (below) or a fantasy canopied French bed (left).
Geoffrey divides his time between a chateau in France, a farmhouse in the UK’s Cotswolds, dealing by appointment in Gloucestershire & at major London Antique Fairs.
Look out for similarly interesting pieces at this months Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair, starting next Tuesday 27th September 2011.
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).
At The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair we like to provide both decorative and collectable items for our customers.
We have a new dealer in collectable glass coming to the Autumn Decorative Antiques Fair. Christopher Shepperd Glass, who has a shop amongst the prestigious antiques purveyors of Kensington Church Street London, specialises in glass of all types from European glass of the Renaissance and post-Renaissance period and from the 18th to early 20th century. He also stocks a good and constantly changing variety of examples from the ancient world including Roman and Islamic glass.
We have borrowed this picture from his website just to give aflavour of what Christoher has in stock for us at next week’s Decorative Fair.
Ron Simpson is well known amongst international collectors of textiles and tribal art. He sells traditional tribal textiles, costumes & jewellery, bags and baskets from South West China and Indonesia. He usually has a fab collection of hats!
This unusual and varied combination makes for a colourful display of stock. The picture here shows Ron on his stand at the former Hali Textile & Tribal Art Fair which used to be held at Olympia.
