Out and About: The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair

The tri-annual Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea, London, has to be one of our favourite places to visit. There’s always a vast array of treasures available and we love to share and compare our finds back at the Design Studio. Here are some of our favourite discoveries from this season’s fair…

We loved this crewel work embroidered tapestry. The colours were so vibrant and they instantly caught our eye with a clash of orange and pink, a combo we love to see!

We often incorporate natural elements into schemes, so we loved this large organic coffee table with its cross grain profile and waved edges. Explore our blog post: Ideas for Incorporating Natural Elements.

Here is an Edwardian oak perpetual calendar. A perpetual calendar is designed to advance the day, date and year correctly until 2100. We can picture this perched on a reception desk or on top of an entrance hall console table.

One of the best parts about sourcing antiques is hearing the story behind each item from the dealer selling them! This is a French marriage box from northern France. These are typically from the 16th and 17th centuries and as the name suggests, were presented to a bride at their wedding. Marriage boxes were for the bride to store money, jewellery and documents during her move into the new marital home. The painted birds allude to love.

The carving on this 19th century Japanese bamboo coat stand was very impressive. We loved its quirky, asymmetrical design.

This is a grand early 18th century mahogany bureau. The details on the piece are a true work of craftsmanship.

These French brass and faux tortoiseshell table lamps also caught our attention. We love how a warm light is gently diffused through the shades.

Here is a pair of English crewel work embroidery panels. The designs reminded us of many beautiful fabrics from Chelsea Textiles.

Another piece that caught our eye was this French ‘nécessaire à secrets’ box. These housed items belonging to wealthy individuals including royalty and noblemen. They stored anything from grooming tools to luxury accessories. The hand painted scenes on this box are so charming.

Taking a close look at this Victorian embroidered patchwork panel was memorising! We fell in love with the flower details ofeach section, as well as the blanket stitch feature running throughout the piece.

These were just some of the spectacular items on display at the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair. We can’t wait for the next fair in spring and hope you will join us! Find out more by visiting: decorativefair.com.

It was a true delight to stumble upon a large collection of Jean Cocteau’s 1957 lithograph works. They are so expressive and we loved the combination of bold colours and simple lines. As such a large set, they looked really extraordinary all grouped together.