At this summer’s Olympia, which runs from June 5 to 15, their showstopper is a lavishly carved giltwood 28-piece suite of Venetian shell furniture.
The shell motif has always fascinated designers and, in the 18th century, Europe’s rich populated their whimsical grottos with Venetian-made shell furniture. This suite dates from the 1880s when grotto furniture was again produced in profusion in Venice. These exotic confections have always had a market among the wealthy, they became fashionable with the glitterati in the 1920s and were a favourite of Helena Rubinstein.
Nowadays Peter Petrou cites a typical buyer as a rock star who wants something distinctive for the bathroom of his second home, and is prepared to spend £4000-18,000 apiece for the luxury.
They sell sea shells...
OLYMPIA’s Fine Art and Antiques Fair has plenty to interest the decorators but they are guaranteed something eye-catching at the stand of Notting Hill dealers Jay Arenski and Peter Petrou, who have made the unusual and decorative their forte. In recent years the pair caused a stir with a bejewelled mummy case (complete with incumbent) and sold out their stand full of Black Forest furniture, which now graces ski lodges from Aspen to Gstaad.
