This new space is dedicated to the work of local artists, jewellers, furniture makers and potters, and it has brought a new dimension to the business. “It is very rewarding to be helping living artists,” says David Glaisyer, who has two artists and six ceramicists on his books and is on the point of adding bronzes to the mix. “I am delighted to say that we have already been able to sell something from each of our artists,” adds David, who regularly finds himself taking clients across from the old gallery with its traditional hang of wall-to-wall oils, to the new space where the current show-stopper is the Vortex Media Cabinet, pictured right, by Robin Furlong of Shipston-on-Stour.
Despite its dramatic name, this is a very subtle combination of shallow, sweeping curves, scalloped edges and broad, smooth surfaces in tropical olive and American cherry.
No line is quite straight and all door and drawer handles are recessed flush into the surface. “People just can’t stop touching it,” says David.
This could prove something of a distraction, as it is designed with television and hi-fi in mind. The doors hinge open and drop-back into pockets at the sides, giving unrestricted viewing, while the back panels slide open to leave openings for plugs and cables as required. The cabinet is priced at £7500.
Nurturing local craft skills – a contemporary view of the Cotswolds
If you still believe that the Cotswolds are merely the final bastion of traditional brown furniture, you should take another look at Moreton-in-Marsh. Just opposite Astley House Fine Art, where David and Nanette Glaisyer have shown Victorian and other traditional pictures for 30 years, is Astley House Contemporary, the airy, two-floor gallery they opened just before Christmas.
