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 […]
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 […]
One of the great delights of the recent Fat Lava exhibition in Amsterdam (a blog entry is on its way) was putting faces to names of many fellow collectors who I’ve got to know over the years via email. Once such collector is Els van Petersen. Els and I first got in contact when I […]
Well, that might be an over-statement, as it has its moments, and I ought to be celebrating it after last night. This weekend I bought a mid-19thc Copeland Late Spode stoneware bottle vase in a junk shop in Edenbridge. Yes, just the one, not a pair. And, I know, it’s not my usual thing at […]
The clever, or observant, amongst you will have noticed that 2011 is the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. A landmark event that buoyed up the nation after the war, it celebrated our culture, developments in technology, manufacturing and design, and looked forward to ‘the world of tomorrow today’. The main event was held […]
Since Graham Cooley and I launched the first ‘Fat Lava’ exhibition and bookalogue in 2006, West German pottery has gone global. We certainly weren’t the first to appreciate this quirky and often much-maligned pottery from the 1960s & 70s, but the combined event crystalised the market, which has grown and grown like Flopsy since then. […]
Earlier this year, I was delighted to be invited to write for an exciting new magazine called ‘Antiques, Retro & Collectables‘. Especially as the roster of writers included talented specialists I worked with on Collect It! magazine, which had very sadly ceased publication a few months earlier. The opportunity of working with the much-loved and […]
Uruguay. It’s hardly a place where you’d expect to find much modern design, mid-century or otherwise. Or so I thought in my naïvety. My thoughts of a Cuba-like state of elegant disrepair were blown apart pretty much as soon as we landed. A swish and well-designed airport at Punta Del Este, and an even swisher […]
Even though Buenos Aires is well known for its amazing Art Deco antique shops, I was a little surprised to stumble across this teapot nestled amongst ceramics and glass on one stand. French Art Deco is plentiful, but British Art Deco is slightly harder to find there. At first glance, it looked like an Susie […]
Taking advantage of the two long holiday weekends, the banker and I decided to blow some of our carefully amassed air miles and seek out some sun by flying to Buenos Aires and Uruguay for a Spring break. We first visited this amazing city three years ago, after hiking the Inca Trail for four days. […]