Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair is back!

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.

Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair 2017

Bruton 2017 filled up immediately with a blend of eager returning and new exhibitors and the show promises to be an exciting mix of C18th – C20th decorative antiques for the home and garden, architectural reclamation, humble English Folk Art – early pottery, samplers, walking canes, CMid furniture and accessories, lighting, textiles, grand painted furniture from local country houses, mirrors, dazzling jewels and even desirable vintage designer handbags.

The recent £6million extension to The Haynes International Motor Museum, with its spacious interior and extraordinary raspberry red futuristic facade, just outside Bruton and very hi viz from the adjacent A303, provides the perfect venue for this new firm fixture in the decorative fairs calendar.

On Saturday 14 October, BBC Antiques Roadshow expert and author Mark Hill will add some celebrity sparkle to the fair with his “Mark Hill Selects” tour – using his expert knowledge to inspire visitors with tips on using traditional and decorative antiques in the modern interior for a cool century mash-up! Mark will also be selecting some collectors’ pieces – he has an eye for obscure objects and visitors can look forward to a fun and engrossing event. Mark’s tour will be streamed live on social media from 1 pm.

The organisers have also teamed up with celebrated local restaurant Roth Bar & Grill for a competition to win a culturally enriching lunch with wine for two people.

To find out more about the Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair and to enter the competition and claim your free ticket click here. 

Bath Branches to Bruton: The Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair, October 14th-16th 2016

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair earlier in the year and I'm really excited that the fair will be branching to Bruton next month!

Bruton in Somerset is a beacon of art and design, the with advent of Hauser & Wirth Gallery and an influx of celebrity and media types keen to experience the good life in a sophisticated rural setting. The area has been much feted by the national press - the Daily Telegraph called it “The Somerset town that celebrities just can’t keep away from - a magnet for the wealthy and glamorous.”

The first Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair will take place 14th -16th October 2016 and will offer an opportunity to many dealers who miss out at the Bath fair. Organiser Sue Ede provides further details: “We had such a long waiting list for our Bath fair this year we decided we had to find a second venue and we could not be more delighted with The Haynes International Motor Museum just outside Bruton, where their brand new £6million modernist design extension will be home to our exciting new event. TV celebrity Mark Hill will open the fair on Saturday October 15th at 10am.

Original series 7 Dining Chairs, designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1955 and produced by Fritz Hansen, made between 1995 and 1996.

“Our formula is very similar, a multi-layered and inspiring fair that offers so much for interior stylists, antique collectors, home decorators and anyone with an interest in decorative antiques and design from the 18th to 20th century. Several of our Bath exhibitors will join us at this new event, but we also have a number of exciting dealers making their debut. It’s going to add a new dimension to the cultural appeal of Bruton.”

Approximately thirty-five dealers will be taking part, and all kinds of designer pieces and inspiring antiques and art will combine to provide a head-turning mix of styles and colours.

Violet Grey

Among the leading exhibitors will be The Factory, the Castle Cary, based collective of seven leading dealers from the decorative trade founded by David Tupman Antiques. Sharing this beautiful former dairy house in Castle Cary is Brighton dealer Jill Palmer, Pimlico dealer Christopher Butterworth, London dealer Derek Greengrass and from Ashburton, Devon, Roger Organ. Together, they will be exhibiting an eclectic mix of decorative antiques for the home and garden. Alchemy from Bruton, a company at the forefront of designer and interior trends take a stand to show French and English sofas and elegant arm chairs, dining tables and chairs, 20th century glass tables, English and European mirrors, textiles and a selection of contemporary art and sculpture.

Devon dealer Violet Grey specialise in antiques and decorative pieces for the garden and conservatory. Their stand promises a colourful range of copper pots and urns, statuary, wire plant stands, furniture such as Coalbrookdale iron benches, and such eye-catching pieces as a charming multi-colour French garden windmill. Kent dealers Elham Antiques bring more garden and architectural pieces and unusual painted furniture.

From Sussex will be No.1 Lewes, a decorative specialist at the forefront of the market, showing a range of English and French furniture, lighting, garden pieces and mirrors. Another influential exhibitor is Waterfall Antiques from Bath, who made their first appearance at Bath Decorative Antiques Fair in March, and will be bringing their collection of stylish town and country furniture, library and colonial pieces including leather trunks and a wide range of mirrors. Harrogate
dealer Chris Holmes Antiques, who also made a very successful debut at Bath in March, deals in decorative and semi-formal furniture both period and decorative, English and Continental garden antiques and statuary and offers an exciting collection of contemporary art by partner Chloe Holt RSA, FRSA, which was a sell out success at the Bath Fair.

Dorset dealers include Macintosh Antiques from Sherborne with a range of English Country House pieces on a grand scale, with a focus on upholstery, fine examples of the Arts and Crafts movement, English mirrors and garden antiques. The Jerram Gallery, also from Sherborne, specialise in British contemporary art; and Guy Dennler Antiques, showing a range of fine Georgian drawing-room and dining furniture for the traditionalist.

No 1 Lewes

‘Hollywood Regency’ is a new collecting/decorative design style that describes both interior and landscape architecture characterized by the bold use of color and contrast often with metallic and glass accents meant to signify both opulence and comfort. Exhibitors The Oscar Collective will be specialising with a number of eye- catching pieces including European mid-century and 19th & 20th century French objects d’art.

Also showing exhibits with a touch of glitter will be Twentieth Century Glamour, specialising in 1920’s -1960’s costume jewellery, Art Deco original prints and European Art Deco figurines.
Other exhibitors at this packed event include Bruton dealer Quillon House Antiques specialising in original arms and armour, equestrian paintings, ceramics, glass and early oak furniture.

From Fulham, John Wiseman specializes in decorative and architectural salvage sourced mainly from period London buildings; John Shepherd & Erna Hiscock, specialist folk art dealers; Mark Blower Antiques from The Channel Islands, dealing in period English furniture for town and country; Not Wanted on Voyage with an eclectic mix of furniture, art and accessories from the 60s and 70s, Paul Drewett Antiques, specialising in marine antiques and paintings and garden ephemera; Brian Ashbee Antiques from Bristol with town and country furniture and accessories; Simon Wharton Antiques from Somerset showing architectural reclamation particularly fireplaces and decorative antiques mainly from France, and William Morris Antiques with gentlemen’s library furniture including club chairs and decorative accessories.

Winfield Canes

Sharing their combined stand will be Appledore Antiques from Devon with furniture, ceramics and unusual collectables; and Winfield Canes with a wide range of rare antique canes and sticks, many highly decorative and others with gadget appeal.

With so many stands and dealers to explore, this is antiques heaven. For more information on the Fair, including opening times, directions and further updates visit www.brutondecorativeantiquesfair.co.uk.