Antiques: From mid-mod to country house
After the usual summer slowdown, the antiques trade is gearing up for a crammed autumn calendar. There’s the Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair at Olympia and Antiques for Everyone at the NEC. And Judith Miller’s chunky bi-annual Antiques Handbook and Price Guide has hit the bookshops. Whether your taste is the cool midcentury look or classic country-house style, whether you’re seeking an investment piece or setting up home on a shoestring, there’s something for everyone.
The lean, low lines of mid-20th-century furniture, especially timber sideboards, dining tables and sofas from the Fifties, lend themselves to contemporary open-plan living. Gareth Williams, modern design specialist at Bonhams auctioneers, says bidders are presently vying for early production furnishings by celebrated Scandinavian designers. “They’re iconic pieces, instantly recognisable, because many are still in production. They appeal to both collectors and private buyers who want to furnish a home,” he says.
In the forthcoming sale (October 19, Modern Design,www.bonhams.com), a black leather sofa by Finn Juhl for Niels Vodder designed in 1945 is estimated at £6,000-£8,000. For fans of spectacular midcentury Scandi lighting, there’s a PH 3/3 pendant lamp by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen, designed in 1926-7 and made in 1928, expected to fetch £1,500-£2,000.
Coloured glassware and ceramics are the perfect accompaniment to mid-mod forms. Especially the chunky, textured vases produced by Whitefriars, blown into wooden moulds and finished by hand, in hues from tangerine to aubergine. If you are a fan, don’t miss the next National Glass Fair (November 13, National Motorcycle Museum,www.nationalglassfair.co.uk), which has an exhibition devoted to Whitefriars as well as several stalls selling collectable pieces ranging from £15-£1,500. Midcentury furniture and accessories can also be found at the regular Midcentury Modern shows (today in Bristol; November 20 at Dulwich College, SE21 7LD, www.modernshows.com).
Regular exhibitor Rocket Gallery (www.rocketgallery.com) offers steel and enamel Krenit bowls, created by Danish designer Herbert Krenchel in the Fifties, a winning combination of sober form and exuberantly coloured interior (from £75).