Fairs and Markets

FLORIDA-based fairs entrepreneur David Lester has set his sights on a pivotal role in the future of the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair.

Devon County Antiques Fairs are currently experiencing technical difficulties with their telephone system but would like the readers of the ATG to know that the fair at Westpoint Exhibition Centre will be going ahead as planned this weekend (July 4-5).

STAFFORDSHIRE auctioneers Richard Winterton are to move all their operations to the purpose-built Lichfield Auction Centre at Fradley.

THERE were notable sales in the first hour of the two fairs which opened at Olympia in West London last Thursday.

DMG Antiques Fairs, organisers of four of the biggest antiques and collectors’ fairs in the UK, have been sold by their parent company.

THE organisers of The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair have announced that they have chosen the 75th anniversary to take the event in a new direction. New disciplines brought in by a raft of new dealers will help broaden the appeal for today's collectors, says the fair's director Alison Vaissiere.

LONDON-based organisers Brian and Anna Haughton have cancelled this year's New York International Art & Design Fair, slated for October 2 to 7.

FLORIDA fairs impresario David Lester and his wife Lee Anne will launch the Miami International Art Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center from January 6 to 10 next year.

DEALERS at Antiquarius have been left looking for a new home after the final death knells were sounded for the King’s Road antiques centre last week.

FAIR organiser Ingrid Nilson has announced that she is to give up The Autumn Antiques Antiques and Fine Art Fair at Cheltenham Racecourse.

THIS van, pictured here, was clean, but dozens of others were not when security checks for entry-fee dodgers swung into action at Swinderby on March 31 and April 1.

One of the largest and longest-established antiques centres in the UK, Gloucester Antiques Centre, will be moving to a new dockside location after planning permission has been granted for relocation nearby.

ST James's gallery Dickinson had one of the most impressive selections of paintings at TEFAF Maastricht and, like many other dealers in Old and Modern Masters, enjoyed a good fair.

The opening night of TEFAF Maastricht (March 13-22) was as impressive as ever: if anything the quality was better than at recent stagings, there was no sign that people were staying away, while exhibitors in the traditional sectors were quietly optimistic that business could be done.

THIS year's 22nd staging of TEFAF Maastricht, which starts on March 12 with a day-long vernissage, will be scrutinised more than any other for signs of how the international art market is coping with global recession.

ANY remaining hope that The Mall in Camden Passage might remain as an antiques centre has vanished after a government inspectorate ruled in favour of the landlord’s redevelopment proposals.

COOPER Fairs have bought The Buxton Antiques Fair, at one time among the most prestigious of provincial fixtures.

THE global art market grew by 11 per cent to £40.1bn over the last year, according to the survey just published by The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF). The report, prepared by leading art economist Dr Clare McAndrew, is the latest in a series of major studies commissioned by TEFAF that act as a focus for the launch of their annual Maastricht fair – the world’s top such event.

WHILE children celebrated as schools shut down across the country, the reaction of the art and antiques trade to the heavy snow that swept over Britain last week was largely less exuberant.

THE global credit crunch's latest victims are the Moscow World Fine Art Fair and the Salzburg World Fine Art Fair, which will not go ahead this year.