Ruins you for life.
I say that with a giant sigh as I look back on the pictures Dear Husbola and I took at the recent Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair at Battersea Park in London in April.
Since 1989, we have travelled to the UK countless times to purchase the odd the quirky the unusual for our own collection and for our clients. Every month, there are hundreds yes
hundreds of antique and vintage buying events throughout the UK--from the small village hall fiars to the large international fabulousness of the recent Battersea Park fair.
This was a six day fair--and we actually attended on the last day of the fair. The organizers operated a courtesy van from Sloane Square which was about two blocks from our accommodation. Nothing easier than jumping on a van and being deposited at the front door of the venue.
Even dogs are welcome.
The trend in the really top notch UK fairs these days is "decorative". I will define that as a statement piece that is ready to plug into your home. This is not the antiques fair of little "bits and bob" of glassware or treen or charming little widget--this is furniture-paintings-statuary-architectural ready to pop into That Little Corner That Needs a Little Pick Me Up in everyone's home.
Look at this tole clock face. From a french clock tower. Huge incredible and one of a kind.
What strikes me about a decorative fair is color. Light-bright-fresh color. So many of our midwestern antique shows are brown. All brown. All tired. Yesterday's look.
The 100+ dealers at this fair had invested much time and money effort in creating these splashingly good exhibits. While we were there--on the sixth day mind you--the aisles were full of shoppers--and porters where wheeling out many items in the two hours we spent there.
| OH, to be in England now that April ’s there | |
| And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware, | |
| That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf | |
| Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, | |
| While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough | 5 |
| In England—now! | | |
Robert Browning
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