Why and when did you start in the business?

I started in 2010, I have always loved art and antiques, but I am business minded too, so the auction house seemed like the perfect place for me. I got my Art History degree, started in an entry level position within the department I felt most excited about (Modern Decorative Art and Design) and the rest is history.

What was the first piece you ever bought?

The first piece I was ever truly excited about was a Modern British painting I bought by Lawrence Petley-Jones. He’s not particularly well known, but was local (to me), as a Richmond Borough of London artist. He is known more for his landscapes of the Thames and still life paintings, but mine is large and entirely abstract, very 1930s (dated 1937) and I will never part with it, though I have since been told it is worth a lot more than I paid for it. My theory is that he has painted over a landscape that was not going well and that he just had fun with it. My latest purchase and second favourite is a piece of studio pottery by British studio potter Gordon Baldwin, its from the 1970s, its geometric, a bowl balanced upon a semi circle on its side, with a simple painted linear design, it sits well with my earlier and later 20th Century pieces.

What is your favourite design movement and why?

This is so hard, because I see the merit in every 20th Century design movement, each one avant-garde and “new” in its own way. I think my personal taste is more minimalist, so I would say mid-century modern (furnishings and ceramics).

What was the best piece and then your favourite thing you have ever sold?

The best thing I have ever sold is probably a pink Lucie Rie bowl that I sold 7 years ago. From the 1980s, it captures her at her peak - exquisitely elegant, accomplished and perfectly glazed in pink, turquoise, and with a golden dripping glazed rim, a feature that she is known for. Lucie really was a master potter, most deserving of this status. Also my favourite, as it is the one piece, or one like it, that I would most wish to own. The closest thing I have of hers is a Royal Mail stamp, a special edition, with one of her tall flared neck pots on it.

Who is your favourite designer?

I have had many over the years. I like the work of Line Vautrin, and the fact that she was a self-made woman; she had a really distinctive unique style, as well as a great head for business. I have recently discovered Atelier E.B, a fashion designer and artist collaborative duo, and what they do is very cool. Fashion has always been linked to art, but the way they work marries the two so exceptionally and has created some really fantastic and different approaches – in installations, fashion and object d’art. I am also a huge fan girl of the work of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, his MR10 chair is a timeless piece, an iconic chair – and everyone should have a cool chair in the home - elegant and modern and designed nearly 100 years ago. What I love most about these earliest of modernists, like Mies Van Der Rohe, is how early their designs really were, yet how fresh and contemporary they look and feel, as if they were conceived yesterday.

What do you most enjoy about your role as an auctioneer / cataloguer / valuer?

That we are always learning! A big part of my job is looking into objects, reading/researching, which is fun and a privilege. Much of what we do, is looking at what has come before, but sometimes you are lucky and become the first to learn something new, that you then get to share in your cataloguing.  That is very exciting, as is the thrill when something you really rate sells really well.

What job would you like to do if you weren’t in the auction world?

I think I would own a gallery/working space/cafe, where you could enjoy/purchase great pieces, but also sit and work with good coffee. Totally away from the art world, I would be a nutritionist. I love food and find different foods and their health benefit/impact on the human body interesting.

Do you notice specific trends influencing the demand for certain pieces?

Constantly they shift.  It is nice to have been in the business long enough now to see a few of those taste changes first hand, but the best thing about the 20th Century, is that although there are academic pieces which stand the test of time and even some really committed collector fields, such as Lalique glass, you find that as one area loses a bit of its popularity another will be buoyant. Studio pottery and craft is enjoying popularity at the moment which is especially nice as I personally like so many of the pieces.

What advice would you give to someone starting a collection?

Its not original (I know!), it’s certainly been said before - but buy what you like. What you are drawn to, so you may enjoy your collection around you. Buy the best that you can afford, and condition is king, be discerning, but it is not the be all and end all, some potteries only produced low-fire pieces, and they are simply more susceptible to damage, because of this.

What to Buy / Sell / Keep now?

I would say British design is the thing to buy, we are told to buy British, this should extend to our antiques and collectibles. British design furniture in the mid-20th century pieces by Robin Day and producers such as PEL, and manufacturers/retailers such as Heals and Habitat. Patterns and designs on domestic ware by Eric Ravilious and Dame Laura Knight. Anything associated with the Festival of Britain, as one of the first indicators that Britain would move to what we now know as mid-century modern tastes, adopted much earlier by the rest of Europe, but the British take is most interesting and just that bit different.

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Auction Details

Thursday 21 November, 10.30am GMT
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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