Jane and Robert Eaton of Cachepot, who trade at the Uppingham Antiques Centre.
It seems that the market has never been stronger for vintage home pieces as we head to specialist fairs across the country to snap up lamps, lighting, European ceramics, glassware and, of course, furniture.
Here are two to head for on the first weekend in March.
Up and down
With its billing of ‘reclaim your home from the mass market’, Dorothy Stiven and Heather Lawson’s Reclaimed Home Fairs run regularly at Chipping Norton’s town hall with queues forming before the 10am opening time, which is to be hoped will be the case for the upcoming fair on Saturday, March 2.
Stiven said: “Our fairs are doing so well that we now have dealers in our downstairs hall so we can accommodate 30 exhibitors in all. Customers come from all over the country and we have lots of positive feedback saying what a high standard of exhibitors we have.”
French connection
Jane and Robert Eaton run Cachepot and source much of their stock of paintings, mirrors, pottery and garden accessories from France.
They are based in Rutland with a selling space at the Uppingham Antiques Centre and have been avid standholders at the Reclaimed fair since its launch six years ago.
A view of Cachepot's stand.
Jane said: “It’s always a successful show for us and very popular are the stoneware confit pots, wooden bowls and baskets priced from £30 to £125.
“We also do well with one-off wow factor pieces like a large French antique birdcage or a carved rocking horse.”
Smiles ahead
On the Vintage Home Show’s website there is a section called Happy Customers where fair organiser Lisa Doel of Ginger Biscuit Events has posted 24 images of smiling/laughing buyers with their purchases.
Many of these are regulars, she said, “some of whom go home with more than one item, be it something they are adding to their collections or a set of chairs, large or small”.
Doel runs fairs at three different locations: one at the civic hall in Pudsey, outside Leeds, with the next on Sunday, March 3, a second at the Victoria Baths in Manchester and a third at St Mary’s Church in Primrose Hill in north-west London.
“We curate our fairs so we don’t have a stack of traders selling the same sort of items,” Doel added.
“We expect a good selection of furniture with a mix of homewares, ceramics and art up to the 1990s.”
