Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair 2018 invites visitors to step back inside after a long hot summer with new and returning exhibitors ready to inspire for home decorating for the autumn and winter.
Following the smash hit launch in 2016, and now a firm fixture in the social calendar in the salubrious Bruton area, often called the Notting Hill of the South West, the 3rd Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair will take place from 19-21 October 2018 with some exciting new exhibitors and many eager returnees from 2017.
The luxurious and spacious venue of Haynes Motor Museum will be an interior design hub spot with more than 50 exhibitors dealing in decorative antiques and Mid Century design with an accent on home furnishing and embellishments.
With a companion fair of the stature of Bath Decorative Antiques Fair to match, the fair has been quick to establish its very own style and atmosphere and offers a hybrid of decorative antiques for house and garden, Country House furniture and humble folk art with Mid Century design attracting a sophisticated trade audience, interior designers and a fleet of smart home owners and collectors from the region and across the UK.
The essence of a decorative fair is the artful curation of stands where exhibitors use all their talent to help visitors envision how pieces might be used and in some cases these are curious interpretations of random objects – antique dolls houses as cocktail cabinets, any possible object converted as lamps or planting vessels, huge illuminated shops signs as wall art, absolutely any garden related object or furniture brought indoors and architectural elements as accent pieces – no limit on size here!
Younger dealers working in the antiques trade also re-imagine the use of traditional furniture making oak and mahogany relevant in C21st interiors. At Bruton local Somerton dealer Mary Hossack of Life Interiors cleverly combines classic country furniture and upholstered pieces from the C19th with contemporary lighting, art and mirrors to inspire a new generation of homemakers and collectors.
Making a debut at Bruton this year will be the Suffolk based Antiques Partnership, with stock ranging from the traditional to the trendy with an accent on country made and unusual pieces. From Hungerford, Berkshire Youlls Antiques with French provincial furniture and decorative accessories, Tetbury based Trilogie with French and Continental decorative antiques for the home and garden, specialist Art Deco furniture dealers Shine on Design from Brighton and TV antiques specialist and decorative dealer Mark Stacey Antiques who delighted visitors at Bath earlier in the year with a jam packed cabinet of curiosities covering a complete wall of his stand. Ashburton, Devon, based Denis Perry Antiques will also make a debut and will make a splash after a lifetime of collecting a wide range of curios and desirable objet for the home.
Returning dealers include Bombe Interiors dealing in French and Italian large scale painted furniture and mirrors, and Elham Antiques dealing painted decorative pieces with an industrial flavour, both from Kent, Linda North, Hertfordshire, with antiques for the garden and conservatory, John Read Smith, Herefordshire, Country House pieces and upholstery, Alchemy from Bruton with French and English upholstery, dining tables and chairs, C20th century glass tables, mirrors, textiles, and a selection of contemporary art and sculpture, Quillon House Antiques, also Bruton based, with fine English oak and country furniture, decorative accessories and equestrian paintings, Sherborne based Macintosh Antiques with painted Country House furniture and upholstery from leading furniture makes of the C18th – C19th and Somerset based Terry & Marie Kelly with folk art, naïve paintings, small country furniture and collectible glass and pottery. Dorset based Guy Dennler will again expand into a 3 room showcase for his Country House furniture and collections of botanic prints and Hugh Leuchars returns with Country House furniture and mirrors.
Library furniture, period portraits and mantiques are a speciality of William Morris Antiques, Brighton and King George Antiques, Essex and 20Th Century Glamour will add a tempting diversion with boudoir art and designer vintage jewellery and handbags. Muse Sculpture Company will return with contemporary sculpture in bronze, stone and glass.
Sleek contemporary leather and steel named designer furniture and accessories from Denmark will be on show from returnee Scandinavian By Design from Dorset and Mid Century design will also be shown by Not Wanted on Voyage from Oxfordshire who specialises in interesting art and design of the 20th century.
Fine British, European and Modern & Contemporary Art will be well represented by local dealers White Space Gallery, Totnes, Freya Mitton, Somerset, The Jerram Gallery, Sherborne and Cambridge based Granta Fine Art.
Followers of Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair will be delighted to hear that antiques industry celebrity Mark Hill, BBC Antiques Roadshow expert, author and lecturer will return to Bruton 2018 for a Mark Hill Takeover on Saturday 20 October. Visitors will be invited to join Mark as he leads tours around the fair when he will engage in person with both his audience and exhibitors and followers on social media. Mark’s talks and advice will be streamed on social media channels throughout the day.
With such an encyclopaedic knowledge of antiques and collectibles, Mark has a knack of uncovering rare and interesting objects to delight and surprise his audience and sometimes the owner! Last year at Bruton he found an early Victorian miner’s hat being offered by regular Bruton exhibitors Hiscock & Shepherd for £95. Formed out of thick leather that has now darkened through use and been virtually petrified solid, this little hat just spoke to Mark somehow and on later research he discovered his ancestors had worked in mining industry in Timsbury, Somerset, just a few miles up the road from Bruton – who knows one of them may have worn this little hat!
Owner of the fair Sue Ede: “We had such a fantastic Bruton debut at Haynes International Motor Museum in 2016 following much pent up demand from exhibitors for a companion fair to the revered Bath Decorative Antiques Fair celebrating its 30th edition next year. We are very much looking forward to our 3rd edition at Bruton in October 2018.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
The 3rd edition of Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair 19-21 October 2018
Trade Preview Friday 19 October 11 am – 2 pm
Public Friday 19–2 pm – 5 pm, Saturday 20 + Sunday 21 - 11 am – 5 pm
Bruton is the companion fair to the established Bath Decorative Antiques Fair due to celebrate its 30th edition in March 2019.
