Latest News Articles by Joan Porter
Homage to the teddy bear
21 May 2018Described as a ‘homage to all things teddy bear’, the second Teddy Bear Festival runs in the Sculpture Gallery and grounds at Woburn Abbey.
Jewellers enjoy the Frock Me fun
14 May 2018Matthew Adams is moving into bling – well, vintage and antique jewellery from the Georgian period onwards.
Artist admires wonderful wood
14 May 2018Sculptor Patrick Seaman loves wood, most specifically the reclaimed sort. He has worked on installations in Sicily and Abu Dhabi as well as creating a giant wooden staircase in London’s Wandsworth Park.
Be an antiques tourist in the north thanks to new guide
14 May 2018Dealer Anthony Bucke has been in the trade for 35 years and opened an antiques centre in the Somerset town of Crewkerne in 2012.
Fine weekend despite weather at Newbury Showground
14 May 2018“We’ve had two-day antiques and collectors’ fairs at the Newbury Showground before but not on a Saturday and Sunday – the weather was downright miserable but we had a really successful first weekend,“ said IACF’s Grant Nicholas, talking about the recent weekend event on April 28-29.
Venue with a vice den past now hosts a new vintage and retro fair
07 May 2018The latest venue in south London for the vintage and retro fairs run by Alison Davis and Alan Old as So Last Century has an interesting history, to say the least.
Size fits snugly in Eridge Park
07 May 2018Hetty Purbrick and Caroline Zoob believe that small is beautiful. That’s not to say that the annual Decorative Living Fair in Eridge Park they launched 13 years ago is in any way under-used – they simply know that size isn’t everything.
Fishing at a perilous angle
07 May 2018Taken in June 1905 on the River Helmsdale in Sutherland, the very northern and wildest tip of Scotland, is this image, below, of two men fishing.
New collector's guide focuses on vintage film photography
30 April 2018Classic camera collectors, users and dealers from around the world will be focusing their attentions this weekend on Photographica, the annual specialist fair organised in London by the Photographic Collectors’ Club of Great Britain.
Beccles fair hosts 100 traders for first of two annual stagings
30 April 2018The busy market town of Beccles on the River Waveney at the edge of the Broads National Park in Suffolk started an antiques street market in the closed-off town centre nine years ago, in early May.
Free pitches for newcomers on camera at IACF antiques fairs
30 April 2018Antiques fair organiser IACF is offering a free pitch at one of its fairs to newcomers in return for agreeing to take part in filming a day in the life of the winner.
First Swallow (fair) of spring
30 April 2018The first of Arthur Swallow Fairs’ Decorative Home and Salvage Shows this year kicks off on Friday, May 11, and runs to Sunday, May 13, at Ripley Castle near Harrogate.
Dealer and auctioneer arrive to make a 'flipping profit' in new BBC show
30 April 2018Shown here at Antiques on High in Oxford is Caroline Henney, left, a costume jewellery dealer at this antiques centre, with Caroline Hawley, right, an auctioneer in Beverley, East Yorkshire, who is also a regular on the BBC‘s 'Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is' and 'Flog It!'
Tribute paid to Sir William McAlpine at revamped Fawley Hill fair
30 April 2018Lady McAlpine says she is now more determined than ever to make the Décor- Architectural architectural salvage event a success after the death of her husband, Sir William, on March 4.
Allan Bellamy returns to Eltham Palace fair
30 April 2018Allan Bellamy of Gazelles in Lyndhurst has been a dealer in Art Deco since 1982 and is a regular exhibitor at Deco fairs around the UK.
The background to a glass act: how Knebworth and Solihull fairs emerged
23 April 2018A look at how specialist events at Knebworth and Solihull are now under the same banner.
Buyers dip into the modern movement for design festival at south London lido
23 April 2018The lone swimmer at the Brockwell Lido pictured here appears oblivious to what’s going on alongside the walkways.
Reclamation for dummies and a market winning idea
23 April 2018Artist Mel Winning runs a reclamation business in the medieval market town of Manningtree in Essex.
Get into a great Tis in Wiltshire for brocante market
23 April 2018The third Great Tisbury Brocante will run on the spring bank holiday, Monday, May 7, all through the streets of the Wiltshire town.
Go with the grain (and cheese) for vintage market in Somerset
23 April 2018Eight years ago textiles dealers Liz van Hasselt and Clare Powell came up with the idea of holding a monthly vintage bazaar in the Somerset market town of Frome, which has a cluster of vintage shops on Catherine Hill.