Most of the ‘antiques’ shops in the centre of Prague close over the weekend, with the exception of the higher priced shops, and those in the Old City. That makes it the perfect time to go museum hopping and enjoy the fantastic and unparalleled array of Art Nouveau architecture that the city has to offer. […]
A city centre with a shop selling glass on pretty much every street sounds like heaven for the glass collector. Not so, I wouldn’t give a second glance, let alone house room, to 90% of the cheap trash on offer! Apart from pieces by Moser or similar factories, and pieces sold at the swish Material […]
I’m an enormous fan of 20thC studio ceramics – and not just those produced in Britain. Studio potters in Germany and the Netherlands also produced some ground-breaking, important and strongly appealing work too. With this in mind, I was excited to read an email from Marcel Brouwer today. Marcel, who ran the Design department at […]
The fabulous sun this weekend meant that it was clearly too warm and welcoming to spend any time indoors. Sitting under a willow by a river seemed like a good (and cool) idea, so off we went to Cambridge to sit alongside the Isis in the picturesque college environs. On the way into town from […]
I’ve just got back from my second Antiques Roadshow of the season, at Beverley Minster in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I’ve never attended a Roadshow in a church before, and what a stunning first time it was – the Minster is truly breathtaking. Only if I had time to enjoy it properly though, as […]
Well, in the words of Warner Bros – ‘That’s All Folks!’. Last night saw the final episode of the first series of ‘Cracking Antiques’, where we helped Roy and Katy create a mid-century modern style living room for their 1950s bungalow. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds, even with a budget of around £2,500, […]
I’m writing this a little later than planned, but of course I couldn’t visit Berlin (or anywhere, indeed) without having a quick hunt for some new treasures. As time was a little tight on last weekend’s visit, I only had time to visit the excellent flea market at Strasse des 17 Juni, near the S-bahn […]
Today was spent at the excellent National Glass Fair in the Motocycle Museum, just outside Birmingham. Organised by the innovative and impressive Oxbridge Fairs, this is perhaps their largest and busiest event, with three large rooms packed with over 100 dealers offering glass from the 17th-21st centuries. This time around, a friend had suggested that […]
Well it seems that all of you who tore yourselves away from the election coverage loved last night’s penultimate episode of Cracking Antiques – thank you for watching! Charlotte and David had the largest house and the largest budget of the series, so we could really go to town in equipping their Georgian dining room […]
I’ve just got back from Grand Designs Live at the Excel centre, where I was signing Cracking Antiques books with Kathryn this afternoon. Kathryn had given a seminar on incorporating retro furniture in interior design, together with eco-designer Oliver Heath and Wayne Hemingway, the design connoisseur and founder of ‘Red Or Dead’. We were also […]
After my visit to the DDR Museum, I tailed off my taste of Communist Germany by driving an original Trabant across the city with Trabi Safari. All I can say is – brilliant! Such fun, and such a ‘unique‘ car! Once you’ve got over the smell the special oil and petrol mix creates, and the […]
I’m spending this weekend in Berlin, a city I always find inspiring and fascinating to visit. There’s an edgy, progressive feel to the place, nowhere more so than within the contemporary art scene, which is truly ‘world class’. I’m also incredibly fond of design produced under the Communist regime, and love staying in parts of […]