About
It's in the blood! There's been no escaping it, I've grown up in a family of antique dealers and from the word go have been surrounded by all manner of wonderful things! From the european works of art and jewellery that my grandparents dealt in, to the enormous cross-section of decorative antiques my parents have bought and sold over the last 50 years, I've been fortunate enough to have seen and handled much of it.
After crashing into it as a toddler, and 'giving dad a lift with it' as a teenager, the natural step was to study it and I took a degree in the history of art and design. Then, after jemmying in a ski season (last chance saloon!) I took my carefully chosen wares first to the local antiques centre, then to the Newark Fair (bank loan) and most excitingly to my first shop on the 'Lillie Road' in London (overdraught facility!). After 6 years of cutting my shopkeeping teeth with the best of them, and with the advent of digital cameras and the internet, I decided I could do all my dealing from my beautiful home town Stamford, which is where I've been based for the last 8 years (mortgage!)
It's hard to say how I buy (with difficulty!), I judge on so many different criteria, but I've realised that great design is aesthetically timeless and by adhering to this principle it's possible to hold a diverse stock of pieces that span the centuries yet still appear just as beautiful, relevant and, therefore, versatile today.
My inspirations are just as diverse........from the architectural order of the ancient world to the industrial furnishings of Victorian factories, from the bleached and flaking surfaces of the seaside to the utility and understated grandeur of a country house kitchen, you should see all this and more reflected in my stock!
For the last 15 years I've been selling to the London and New York trade, top interior designers and a few discerning private customers. As the internet helps my business grow, I hope to be able to reach others such as yourself and very much look forward to doing business with you in the near future!
