A little while ago, I was interviewed by the team behind Preloved, one of Britain’s largest and fastest growing alternatives to eBay. Celebrating ‘the joy of secondhand’, the company is right up my street and is a great place to search for retro, vintage, and antique, bargains. Anyway, click here to read my interview. I […]
Well, sort of…a picture of them at least. I can’t pass a charity shop without going in. Fact. Walking to a meeting in north London this morning, I sped past a fair few of them – yippee! On my way back, I popped into them all. I usually head towards the ceramics and glass first, […]
Rummaging around a secondhand bookshop (always one of life’s little pleasures) a few weeks ago, I discovered a small and slim hardbound copy of Sheraton’s furniture designs. It was published in 1946 by John Tiranti, and the simple yet charming, Classically-inspired illustrations inside made me glow. So I spent the £4 the bookseller was asking, […]
Being a born and bred Surrey boy, it’s always lovely to escape the big smoke for a bit of the countryside again. On my way back from a healthy walk in the hills overlooking Dorking, I stopped into the Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair to see what was going on, and say ‘Hi’ […]
This year’s National Antiques Week (14th-21st October) sees an exciting new nationwide competition – to find Britain’s best antiques shop. And you’re in charge, as the voting is down to you! Even better, entering a vote means you could win one of ten fantastic prizes worth £200 each! The five categories comprise: 1. best antiques […]
Back in June, I was honoured to be asked to travel to Amsterdam to open an all-new exhibition dedicated to Fat Lava. The organisers, Kevin Graham of the Pottery & Glass Forum and Emiel Monnink of Retrominded, had done a wonderful job, with hundreds of different ceramics on display. Pieces ranged from the unique, such […]
Over the past six years, the King’s Lynn Arts Centre has been integral to creation of a number of new international markets in 20thC design. Liz, Nick, Amanda and team there (seen above) have put their full support behind a number of major exhibitions that have launched new areas across the world, including the work […]
On my way back to the ‘Big Smoke’ from filming at the West Sussex Roadshow a few weeks ago, I stopped off in Dorking, Surrey. Nestled beneath the South Downs, the town has always been known for its antiques centres and shops clustered along West Street. As I grew up nearby, it’s long been one […]
I’ve just got back from the last filming day for the Antiques Roadshow this season. It was held at the wonderful Weald & Downland open air museum, near Chichester in Sussex. Despite heavy rain predicted, the weather stayed dry, and the sun even shone at one point! Thousands made the journey to see us, and […]
After a somewhat eye-opening (and eye-watering) shopping trip to seek out a sofa bed yesterday, I needed a ‘quick fix’ of antiques. The horror of the cost (and often poor quality) of modern furniture against the antique, vintage or retro furniture I nearly always buy was just too much. Mercifully, Clapham Junction in South London […]
After returning from a great three days in York culminating in a fab retro and vintage find, it was straight into another retro event – the three-day extravaganza of Vintage London. Organised by design and fashion guru, and all-round cool guy, Wayne Hemingway, it aimed to celebrate ‘five decades of British cool’. And, boy, did […]
Last week was a busy one again – just how I like it. Wednesday saw me travel up to York to attend the Antiques Roadshow in the city’s ‘Museum & Gardens’ the next day. As ever, we were packed out, it was great fun, and some super treasures were found and filmed. The picture above […]