The Britain’s Best Antiques Shop awards came to an exciting climax last week at The Bath Decorative Antiques Fair. Organised by Homes & Antiques magazine and Antiques News & Fairs, voting began back in October as part of National Antiques Week. Many thousands of votes were received from across the country – and even from […]
Mid-century modern and studio glass lovers out there will love the new (March 2012) edition of Homes & Antiques magazine, as I’ve written new article on the beauty of Mdina Glass for it. Already as popular with collectors as it is with those with an eye for retro, vintage, and modern interiors, you can learn […]
As we didn’t manage a holiday this year, and Summer wasn’t exactly hot, the banker and I decided to cash in some air miles and spend New Year in the hot sun of Florida. When I take a holiday, it doesn’t usually take long for that ‘itch’ to set in and for me to start […]
I’ve been a fan of ‘The Chap‘ magazine for quite some time now, having found issue 7 in a vintage clothes shop a fair few years ago. Who couldn’t resist a magazine with a strap-line reading ‘Divinity lies in the insouciance of a moleskin waistcoat‘? Especially as I was wearing one at the time. For […]
Earlier on this year, I launched my fifth book on Caithness Glass. Once again, this accompanied a ground-breaking exhibition of glass from the Graham Cooley collection. The exhibition was launched in January at the renowned Broadfield House Glass Museum in Stourbridge, and Graham and I were delighted to welcome Emer OBroin, the daughter of the […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
One of the many joys about working on the Collectables and Miscellaneous tables on the Antiques Roadshow is that you never know what the next person in the queue will have. It could, quite literally, be anything – it’s a little like Christmas! At Seaton Delaval (above) last week, I saw something that I thought […]