The Spring Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair at Battersea Park
The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair runs three times a year in Battersea Park with more than 150 exhibitors from the UK and Europe. These specialist dealers offer a rich panoply of unusual period design, objects and 20th century classics mixed with fine and decorative antiques in a beguiling blend of splendour and surprise. Works of art from the ancient to the contemporary, including sculpture, paintings, prints and photography, are an important element of the Fair, as befits their role in a polished interior scheme.
Of the three Decorative Fairs each year the Spring edition is the best hunting ground for gardenrelated decoration in metal, wood or stone, grand or practical, such as planters, urns and troughs, statuary, gates, benches, outdoor tables and re-purposed objets such as industrial metal window frames glazed with mirror. The latter make a pleasingly effective addition to smaller gardens where they create the illusion of greater space.
Foyer inspiration for visitors in April 2018 will be An Ornamental Menagerie, directing the spotlight on designs, objects and works of art featuring creatures great and small, familiar and exotic. Furniture decorated with carvings such as classical lions’ paws or chinoiserie Ho Ho birds; formal and folk art favouring beloved pets and domesticated beasts; decorated textiles; nostalgic toys; lamps in the form of carved or cast birds and animals. The kingdom of fauna provides truly endless possibilities, and past designers and artists have taken them all to heart.
What makes the Decorative Fair such a delight and sets it apart from all other fairs is the creativity and inspiration of the stand displays, the relaxed and cheerful atmosphere and a thrilling element of the unexpected; you never know what you might find around each corner. From period shop signs and advertising accessories to taxidermy, objets trouvés and fossils, exhibitors have an eye for the distinctly unusual! Decoration has never been such fun. The Fair is easily accessed from Chelsea, Sloane Square and Knightsbridge using the frequent courtesy shuttle service to the Fair from outside the Sloane Square Hotel. Delicious food at Megan’s Kitchen, a brasserie and bar, is available all day (don’t miss the teatime cakes or the reviving Bloody Marys), whilst on-site packing and shipping facilities make life easy for international and UK buyers.