Antiques Trade Gazette 65

fairs & markets

Dealers act to promote a fair made for Kent

Joan Porter

reports

SINCE winning the contract to run antiques and collectors’ fairs at the Kent County Showground, B2BEventsreport that bookings are going well for the first fair at the venue at Detling, near Maidstone, on Saturday and Sunday April 17 and 18.

Said organiser Helen Martin: “We’re over 50 per cent sold on the outside pitches and there are only two shopping arcades left out of five. The 15 furniture pitches in the Kent Pavilion are gone and the table-top sections in both the Kent and John Hendry Pavilions are 75 per cent sold.

“Dealers are being extremely

responsive. Many were handing out information at IACF’s last fair held at Detling, unbeknown to us, and are taking our leaflets and distributing them at fairs that we just can't get to.“ Alan Yourston, B2B’s recently appointed fairs director, added: “We’ve committed ourselves to £4000-worth of advertising and promotion, including a local radio advertising campaign, as well as local newspapers and the trade press. All we need now is that our prayers for good weather are answered.” Tel: 01636 676 531.

Third vintage Dublin show to go with a swing

There had never been a vintage fashion fair held in Ireland, until a year ago organiser Joan Murray tapped into the changing face of fashion and the sudden rise of vintage and retro shops and 20th century decor businesses, particularly in Dublin, and seized her opportunity.

Her inaugural vintage fashion and decor fair at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire last April was a smash hit, as was the second in October, and she expects a similarly enthusiastic response to her upcoming fair at the same venue on Sunday, April 18.

Joan, of Antiques Fairs Ireland,

which run events in Dublin and the east coast region, will have around 50 dealers at her upcoming vintage fair which is topped off by a vintage ball in the evening to dance the night away to swing band sounds of the ’40s and ’50s. www.antiquesfairsireland.com

Organiser wins praise on a plate

NOT all organisers feel appreciated by their dealers but 80-year-old Margaret Brown’s handling of long-running fairs at the Dorking Halls in Surrey is universally praised. Porcelain dealer Yvette Serafim says: ”Without Margaret I would not have developed my business as much as I have. I started my career in the antiques trade 25 years ago with her and I am very grateful for the huge encouragement

Above: dealer Yvette Serafim with one of a pair of Sèvres handpainted dishes, c.1840, which she will be exhibiting at Margaret Brown’s next fair at Dorking Halls, Dorking, Surrey on Sunday, April 18, at £1200.

Rubbernecking at the palace

WILDLIFE artist Dominique Salm is one of 40 artists showing at the first Animal Art Fairon April 16 to 18 in the beautiful London setting of Fulham Palace, where all the exhibitors will be on hand to talk about their work.

This delightful watercolour of ostriches, left, by Dominique is called Rubbernecking, costs £2700, and is currently shortlisted for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year Award.

she’s always given me.“ The dealer, who trades as Purley Oaks Antiques, specialises in 18th and 19th century porcelain and exhibits at specialist ceramic fairs, Little Chelseaand Gallery 85 in Portobello Road. Yvette says that she had a good first quarter this year selling high-end items. Margaret Brown’s next fair at the Dorking Halls in Dorking is on Sunday, April 18. Tel: 020 8874 3622. Tel: Yvette Serafim: 020 8657 0973.

Launch on hold

LAST week we reported about IACF launching a new fair at Newbury Racecourse and mentioned Martin Lister of InVogue Antiques’ plans to revive the

East Berkshire Antiques and Fine Art Fair

in Maidenhead, formerly run by Cooper Events, with the first event on May 1-3. Mr Lister now says there has not been enough time to organise a successful fair for May, so he has rescheduled it for November 2010 or May 2011. Tel: 07773 786103.

Above: Lolita Lush and her partner Spatz Molloy, alter-egos of two members of Dublin’s vintage and burlesque scene, snapped at the second vintage fashion and decor fair in Ireland last year. The third is on Sunday, April 18 at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, where Lolita and Spatz may well be lighting up the place.

Sheila’s higher performing flea markets

THE ongoing shifts in focus of Sheila Hyson’s charity-raising events are proving successful enough to be of interest to other organisers in the West Country. Sheila’s Hyson Fairs, run from the family farm near Exeter, have held events across Devon in aid of leukaemia research for 30 years – ever since one of her three sons had a bone marrow transplant and made a full recovery from the disease. Said Sheila:”I found over the years that antiques and collectors’ fairs were just not doing so well and I’ve all but given up on them, save for two a year in Chagford. By contrast, the fleamarkets which I started five years ago, and which include a 200- staller at the Exeter Livestock Centre, are very popular. So, staying with the idea, we branched out into textiles, vintage and decorative markets, and rag markets. “These are all absolutely packed out. And I also started garden fairs which no- one else in the West Country do and these too work a treat.”

Hyson Fairs’ weekly fleamarkets are held at Chagford and Budleigh Salterton as are the annual garden fairs which also include Topsham as a venue. Textile fairs take place in Honiton and rag markets in Chagford. Tel: 01647 231 459. www.hysonfairsltd.co.uk

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