1. How did you get your start?
I’ve been collecting mid-century furniture for some time now but only started selling it three or four years ago.
2. What is the first sale you made?
It was an Ernest Race BD1 Sideboard, which I bought in St Agnes during an anniversary weekend with my wife and sold to a lovely couple of British mid-century collectors in Harrogate, during another weekend away. I spent the profit on those weekends – and buying another BD1 because we missed it so much.
It was the first sideboard made after the Second World War. ‘Utility’ furniture restrictions limited the use of solid wood so Race, therefore, used aluminium and steel from the war surplus and made a classic piece – necessity being the mother of invention and all that.
3. What social media platforms do you use?
I use Instagram as I think my items are very photographable (@form2017function).
4. What is one piece you would love to get your hands on?
A Gerald Summers BPAC (bent ply armchair). It’s the greatest one-piece bent ply chair of all time and out of my price league.
Alternatively the ‘kangaroo’ chair by Ernest Race for the Time Life building in London, one of the first modernist buildings constructed after the Second World War – the chair is probably also out of my league as I think there were only 11 or 12 made.
5. Real ale or espresso martini?
Is an espresso martini a real drink? I used to be a real ale bore but we spend a lot of time in Bordeaux so I’ve become a red wine bore.
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