Cart-House

Ben and Cathryn Bailey run online antiques store Cart-House. Ben chats to us about the business…

Tell us about your background

We both grew up in Herefordshire. My parents have an antiques shop, which we both worked in and it was a big influence on me while growing up. Cathryn studied decorative arts and has a background in textiles.

When did you start Cart-House?

I always wanted to run my own antiques business so I started Cart- House when I moved to London eight years ago, from a warehouse that was originally used for textile production. When moving back to the countryside, we joined forces and started to grow the business together. For the past few years, we’ve been based in Bristol.

What do you sell?

We have a range of 19th to

20th- century furniture from all over Europe, specialising in cabinets, French armchairs and, more recently, rugs and paintings. We would like our items to be as accessible to as many people as possible, so have French confit pots starting at £60 up to a large linen press at £1,600.

Describe your style

We especially love a mix of functional and tactile items, from worn wooden

benches to handwoven Moroccan rugs. We’ve always being drawn towards items that catch our eye and we would want in our own house. The style of an item isn’t so important to us, it’s more that it has a presence or a look that sparks something.

How do you source your items?

Over the years, we have made lots of contacts who source antiques from around Europe. They have a good idea of what we’re looking for and we see them on a regular basis.

What do you love about running an antiques business?

The excitement of finding interesting pieces that are new to us, and learning about the history and significance of them. Also, having green credentials is very important to us throughout the business, especially restoring and reusing items that are built to last and can be used for another generation. Hearing that customers are happy is always great too.

Do you have any future plans? We’d love to see our pieces in a shop environment, so a pop- up in Bristol may be on the cards.