September is always one of the busiest months in the design diary. Tomorrow marks the beginning of London Design Festival and every night there is something happening.
At the beginning of the week we went to Christies South Kensington to preview the ‘Core One, Style and Spirit’ sale. It was great to see all my fellow traders from the Core One days where Jamb had its first showroom. After some delicious wine and canapés we listened to Rita Konig’ s eloquent and heartfelt talk lamenting the loss of Core One. In her most natural way she spoke about buying from Core One and how you could make a house a home buying antiques from the cavernous space beneath the gasworks. I particularly loved her describing the necessity for silver spoons to serve mash potatoes as she chose certain pieces that she coveted in the catalogue.
A selection of Rita Konig’s favourite things taken from the Catalogue
The showroom is as busy as ever because everyone in back in the swing of finding pieces for their homes. Pimlico Road is part of the celebration and next Tuesday evening we open until 9pm. In between site visits and meetings we set up one of our 18th century antique chimneypieces at Decorex that opens on Sunday. I’m looking forward to seeing the piece in situ at my old friend Jeremy Rothman’s stand (H22a)
An 18th century antique wooden chimneypiece showing at Decorex
I am feeling particularly jaded as I write this blog today as last night was one of the highlights of the calendar: the House and Garden Party held at Sotheby’s auction house. The party always celebrates the October issue, one of the most important interior design issues of the magazine year. Under the new stewardship of Hatta Byng the issue was particularly impressive and I was excited to see the fantastic work and latest project of my old friend Adam Bray which graces the front cover. The party is always the first time you see all the familiar trade faces after the summer. I had my usual fun with David Oliver, Sue Crewe, Ben Pentreath and Douglas Mackie and it was great to be with James Mackie, Senior Director of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sothebys and God father to my son Monty.
James Mackie and Douglas Mackie at the House and Garden Party
Full of high spirits we hotfooted it onto the Connaught to join Peter Sellick from Waterworks for dinner in the private dining room. Peter was kind enough to include us in a wonderful dinner that he hosted for twenty five to celebrate it’s first showroom opening in London. The food was sublime, created by Helene Darroze, (who was awarded the Veuve Clicquot’s worlds best Female Chef award 2015) and the company brilliant fun – I had to drag Charlotte away from Chester Jones’s son Toby before the clock struck midnight.