I’ve just got back from the wonderful National Glass Fair, held at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. Apart from meeting many friends and colleagues, the highlight of the day was buying a copy of Charles Hajdamach’s new book ’20th Century British Glass’. If you love glass, go out and buy a copy – now! This […]
People keep saying to me that “everything that’s worth something has been found” and “it’s not worth looking as there are no bargains any more”. Well, it’s just not true. Only last month a superb, and rare example of a Modernist chair found for £25 sold at auction for nearly £3,000! Similar, but not quite […]
My sharp-eyed friends Marc & Maiken at the excellent Utopia2000 in Germany are currently selling an opaque white large Holmegaard or Kastrup ‘Gulvvase’ designed by Otto Brauer in 1962. In another instance of seeing great vintage design on the small screen, they spotted an identical piece in Emma Peel’s fashionable 1960s house in the first […]
It’s always worth doing your homework properly, checking any marks on a piece against your research. A few months ago, I found a rather amusingly mis-described item for sale. The seller knew exactly what it was, and described it accurately as an “Isle of Wight Studio Glass Fish vase designed by Michael Harris”. They also […]
Our first stop was the capital city of Beijing, known as Peking until the Revolution in 1949. After a recouperative night’s sleep following the 9 hour flight from London, I set off mid-morning to enormous Panjiayuan antiques market in the south east of the city. Although many flea markets are overrun with tourists, particularly in […]
This month’s BBC Homes & Antiques magazine is even more than packed than ever with inspirational and practical information about collecting and living with antiques and collectables. In this month’s issue, insiders reveal their ‘trade secret’ favourite hunting grounds, be they antiques centres, specialists, auctions or junk shops. I was delighted to be asked to […]
Having seen so many prehistoric, neolithic and paleolithic designs on modern ceramics and glass, I’ve often wondered how much these were inspired and driven by the discovery of some caves. In Summer 1940, four French teenagers out walking their dog in the Dordogne discovered a cave, the walls of which were covered with prehistoric cave […]
Last weekend was spent in Berlin, visiting friends, but also indulging in more than a little hunting around the flea markets and vintage shops of this trendy city. First stop was Deco Arts in Motzstrasse, in the Schoneberg district. I had passed this shop many a time, and each time it was closed. Thankfully, this […]
Filmed during the first ever retrospective celebration of the life and works of Frank Thrower in Summer 2006, the documentary film of Frank’s life, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”, will be shown on the the Sky 2 Arts channel on Sunday 9th August at 7pm. This fascinating documentary was filmed and produced by Nigel Edwards of […]
…and I inadvertently saved the best for last. Before I travel anywhere, I always spend an evening trawling the web for places to visit. This time I found a new gallery, Gallery 567 on Benczur Utca, which I hadn’t come across before and looked right up my street. Open by appointment only, it’s well worth […]
Spurred on by yesterday’s success, I went once more into the sun to find more bargains in Budapest. I spent quite some time doing this in Summer last year, and you can read about my experiences by clicking here. One of my first targets today was the chain of state-owned ‘BAV‘ stores that sell secondhand, […]
This bank holiday weekend, I find myself in Budapest, where it’s very warm (32 degrees) and very muggy. A quick lunch after touching down left me ready to hit the shops. First stop was Kiraly Utca, where I had been into a truly superb (and also truly tiny) shop specialising in 20th century ceramics and […]