Join the talented antiques dealer and founder of Oscar Collective, Lizzie Gordon on how to incorporate antiques into your home. She tells us how she ended up doing what she loves. Visit Oscar Collectives website for endless inspiration.
‘I do maintain that you should only buy what you love. Try and buy the best quality that you can and of course, I’d always advocate to buy vintage or antique. It’s recycling at the end of the day.’
I’m a trained interior designer and I’ve always loved having antique pieces in my interiors mixing them up with contemporary furniture. I started selling antiques after spending time in France where my parent’s live and would often buy things I liked, bringing them back to decorate my home. So I thought, why not make a business out of something I loved and had a passion about, and started up a website and instagram page, and off I went!
Being Listed does make things tricky; it is wonderful and privileged to have a period property, and it’s obviously so important that historical architecture is protected, but not to such an extent that old properties are restricted to being homes for modern living. The compromise is not always an easy one!
I do maintain that you should only buy what you love. Try and buy the best quality that you can and of course, I’d always advocate to buy vintage or antique. It’s recycling at the end of the day. Shop around: auction houses are a great re-source, Antique markets that take place around the country and don’t forget about Ebay! Antique dealers are curators and often experts in their area and are another great resource and will always be happy to source a piece if you have something specific in mind.
Its exciting! I love finding a gem at an antiques market or at auction. I often restore it or re-upholster, giving it a new lease of life – and when someone buys it because they like what you have done, its very satisfying. I do buy what I love, not necessarily following trends, so there is a risk involved. A vintage or antique piece might be overlooked shoved to the back of an antiques store, but breathing new life and showing its relevance, makes me really happy!!
I bought a Northern Italian inspired Chest of Drawers from The Charles Edit, a lovely dealer who shares my aesthetic – its a geometrically, hand-painted small chest of drawers with very pretty handles – and I just love it! I use it for display vignettes, always changing it depending on what look I am going for at the time. I will never sell it!
I’m inspired by other dealers, who are really leading the charge in aesthetics and quality of pieces and these include Brownrigg and Noble in Tetbury as well as Lorfords Antiques, who are the leading the industry in sustainability in everything that they do.
Really hard; goes with the territory unfortunately. I have definitely sold pieces that I would have much preferred to have kept, but needs must! As my business grows I am hoping that I will be able to keep more things.
Favourite hands-down, Isle sur La Sorgue in Provence is unsurpassable, head to the street markets at Easter, armed with a croissant and cash. In the UK, you have to visit Tetbury – its the centre of the antique business in the SW of England.
