Category: Events

It was a Friday evening treat to attend a private view of the new work of Italian artist, Antonio Sannino, at Clarendon Fine Art in Wimbledon Village.  

One of the focuses of Antonio Sannino’s work, created using glazed oil on aluminium, is the play of light on the surface of water.  Several such pieces were on display that evening, each in a similar vein, but each equally mesmerising.  Sunlight reflects on rippling warm aqua seas seen from above, while shadowy rocks show themselves from beneath.  The intense use of colour drew me in.  And what held me longer is that there is both such movement and such stillness to contemplate in these pieces.  

Phillip Jeffries have a passion for handcrafting wallcoverings.  As they launched their Spring 2020 collection at London Design Week, they invited designers to meet at their Chelsea Harbour showroom and get crafty with blocks, paint and textured grounds.  Juggling croissants and mimosas too, we had a lot of fun whilst realising what skill and dedication goes in to these crafts!

Decorative magic is created when sculpture and light are brought together, and some of the most impactful displays at Decorex 2019 were created by the various artisans of lighting who were exhibiting.  

Serip displayed their nature-inspired glass and bronze organic sculptures.  It was hard to know what to fall in love with first:  the crisp wreath of fallen maple leaves or the unstoppable swallows dancing around a branch.

The hand-blown glass domes from Jonathan Rogers tumbling en masse from the ceiling made me stop and gaze a while too.  What gives depth of interest to these modern fittings is the engravings produced using a traditional Venetian cane-work technique.

The calendar of the interior design community continues to be brimming with events.  One of my favourites took place this week:  the Pimlico Road Summer Party.  This is the prettiest of London’s design districts, the perfect special spot for a village party to celebrate the arrival of Summer. 

My colleague, Carl, and I made a heck of a lot of friends in the showrooms of Pimlico Road this year, thanks mainly to his new puppy, Teal, who came with us.  And there, amidst all the finest and most unusual furniture, artworks, and antiques you could ever hope to find, it feels rather wonderful to drink rosé, chat, and spill out onto the pavement!

What a privilege to be invited by my friends at Ottocento to attend the Private View of the BADA Fair at Duke of York Square.

The British Antique Dealers Association has set the industry standard for over 100 years, and, each Spring, Britain’s 100 leading dealers of fine art, design and antiques gather to present works spanning ancient antiquity to modern times.  

At the week-long fair, attendees can browse and purchase items of the finest quality and craftsmanship.  It’s quite a magical affair!  

Here are just a handful of the eye-catching pieces that were on display this year.