The Fair that Invented 'Decorative Antiques': 40 Years at the Forefront of the Interiors World

The Decorative Fair launched in September 1985 to bring together the worlds of interior design and antiques at a time when the professional interiors trade was expanding. Interior designers were looking for a great variety of antiques from different periods, with strong visual impact, at sensible prices. Although they didn't know it yet, what they were hunting for became known as 'decorative antiques'.  

The Fair tapped in to that demand and was embraced, as it still is today, by the trade and their clients. There had never been an antiques fair like it, and the event continues to lead the way in the interiors world. It was the first major antiques fair to introduce later datelines for Art Deco and mid-century design, as well as modern and contemporary works of art, and today it embraces everything from natural history items and antiquities to 1970s postmodern furniture by international makers.

The Autumn Fair runs from 29th September to 5th October at London’s Battersea Park.

www.decorativefair.com

Autumn’s Unmissable Design Event Returns to Design Centre Chelsea Harbour

The world of design is celebrating the best of new creativity until 19th September at Focus/25. The show is an unmissable date in the international design calendar, with more than 135 showrooms and over 600 brands, alongside over 35 pop-up House Guests. Focus brings together an outstanding line-up of global brands, talented makers, emerging innovators and thought leaders who will influence interior design in the years to come. 

With a full programme of inspiring events, talks, tours and masterclasses, visitors can hear from bright minds in the interiors business. The Conversations in Design series will feature talks on diverse topics and issues including “The Reimagined Home: What We Choose To Keep”, “Mix, Match and Master: The Art of Pattern” and “Sourcing Style: The Art of Finding Inspiration”.

Through Focus/25: The Longer View, visitors can continue to enjoy the exhibition area from 22nd September until 16th October.

Entry is free, register here:

Focus/25 Registration | London Design Show | DCCH

www.dcch.co.uk/focus

A Beacon of Light at the London Design Festival

This year’s London Design Festival runs until 21st September, with an ambitious programme of installations, exhibitions and experiences. For 2025 the Festival brings design into the public realm with Landmark Projects at Trafalgar Square and the Southbank Centre. 

Beacon is a monumental lighting installation designed by Lee Broom, at the entrance of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Drawing inspiration from the area’s Brutalist architecture, and the legacy of the 1951 Festival of Britain – heralded as a “beacon of change”, Beacon is visible from across the Thames and the Embankment.

One captivating feature of Beacon is the dynamic choreography of light. As Big Ben strikes the hour, it comes to life in a light show, with a pulse building in tempo. Composed of black lamposts crowned with contemporary recycled glass shades, Beacon takes visual cues from the Victorian Dolphin Street Lamps designed by George John Vulliamy in 1870, an enduring fixture of the Thames Embankment, reinterpreted to resemble a vast sculptural chandelier that appears to float.

Beacon will remain on display as part of Winter Light 2025.

www.londondesignfestival.com

Arte’s Panoramic new Designs

Inventive wallcovering specialists Arte have launched an addition to the evocative Decors & Panoramiques collection. The nine new designs feature intriguing visual narratives and unexpected textures, from soft silk finishes, detailed embroidery and jacquard woven patterns to tactile bouclé fabrics, foils and refined linen effects.

The new designs are Forêt des Mures, representing the rich, botanical diversity of French and English gardens; Sierra Nevada, featuring motifs of mountain peaks, eagles and wildflowers; Sundara, from the Sanskrit word meaning beautiful or noble, and drawing inspiration from panoramas of Rajasthan, India; Yasuni, a tropical design based on the National Park in Ecuador; Selas, a retro geometric of halfmoons named after the Greek word for light or glow; Paradisiac, portraying a tropical oil painting of a mesmerising tropical landscape; Filigrana, with an embroidered filigree pattern; and Balata Garden, inspired by a tropical garden on the island of Martinique. The ninth, Mangrove, above, is a vibrant panorama with plant roots forming a striking graphic vertical effect, digitally printed on a glossy fil-à-fil textile.

www.arte-international.com

Curiousa Founder and Designer Esther Patterson in her studio

A Curiousa Carnival of Light

Award-winning British lighting studio Curiousa has unveiled its latest collection, Carnival, a playful and expressive evolution of its Sculptural Stack series. Carnival enhances Curiousa's dedication to craftsmanship, introducing a dynamic interplay of porcelain and wood, alongside the signature hand-blown glass. This adds depth by blending rich textures with a soft colour palette to create strikingly sculptural lighting pieces.

Carnival is inspired by the geometric Harlequin motif – rooted in 16th-century Italian Commedia dell'Arte theatre. Much like the patchwork costumes of the Harlequins, pieced together from fabric remnants, this collection combines porcelain, wood, and glass, in an experimental curation of form and material. The result is a series of illuminated art pieces that exude warmth, character and playfulness.

Consisting of three drop chandeliers: Lazzo, Vecchio and Bravado, each light is designed as a statement piece, to place over a dining table, beside a sofa or partner in a cluster cascading in a stairwell or hotel foyer, where multiples can create a stunning sculptural display. 

www.curiousa.co.uk

Hope Springs Eternal with the Latest Launches from Officine Universelle Buly

New from Officine Universelle Buly are the ‘Orange, Ginger & Clove’ toothpaste, and the ‘Double Pommade Concrete’. The bright zingy toothpaste with no fluoride (£24) is enriched with refreshing ginger and citrus, and made with a base of thermal spring water from Castéra-Verduzan, in the Gers region of France. This natural spring water is rich in calcium and magnesium and has been used for centuries for soothing sore throats and mouths, and the spa town is the first to have been accredited by the health department for treating periodontal issues.

The new Pommade (£40), with a fresh scent of eucalyptus and sweet orange, is a nourishing cream made with shea butter and rich in the natural antioxidants vitamin A and vitamin E. Robinet cap sold separately.

https://buly1803.com/en-gb

Terramineral II, a Tribute to the Living Memory of the Earth

Lalique’s latest collection of heritage crystal pieces is Chapter II of Terramineral, an homage to the geological richness of the Earth, blending raw textures with refined craftsmanship.

The new collection comprises bowls, vases, lighting, sculpture and a perfume bottle. Silex bowls and vases combine the raw beauty of flint, with satin polished facets hewn from the outside and gleamingly smooth inner surfaces. The grey and clear crystal Basalte vase is a monumental vase inspired by the spectacular rock formations of basalt columns, and an extraordinary technical feat in a limited edition of 45 pieces. Gorilla, in Black crystal made with the lost wax technique, is an extraordinary sculpture in a limited edition of 38, exquisitely depicting the strength and tenderness of the majestic mountain gorilla. The Caldera wall sconces, in gold lustre or clear satin-repolished crystal, are dramatic circular crackled lights, the volcanic cracks throwing a extending gimmers of light and shade on the wall. Finally, the Magma crystal perfume bottle evokes the telluric energy of erupting magma immortalised in crystal and infused with a captivating Extrait de Parfum fragrance.

Available from the London boutiques in Conduit Street and Burington Arcade and from:

https://uk.lalique.com/

Barista’s Choice of Cup from Monoware

After two years of thoughtful development, and continuing their signature aesthetic of timeless contemporary with subtle nods to traditional forms, Monoware have unveiled the Barista Collection – a meticulously crafted range of stoneware cups and saucers created in collaboration with UK baristas. Designed to elevate the daily coffee ritual, the collection includes two distinct styles: the Cafe Cup, with a comfortable handle and classic shape, and the minimalist Savour Cup, designed for slower, handle-less sipping.

Available in Espresso, Flat White, Cappuccino and Filter sizes, each piece balances form and function, featuring soft internal curves to support smooth pours and precise latte art. The stoneware material ensures excellent heat retention and durability – a practical, design-led alternative to delicate porcelain.

The Barista Collection comes in the Monoware palette of Chalk, Pebble and Slate and prices start at £13.

https://www.monoware.com/collections/barista-collection

Pure Fluke – Animal Magic from David Hunt Lighting

Inspired by the fluke of the humpback whale – the powerful horizontal tail fin, the new FLUKE collection by David Hunt Lighting is a sculptural homage to the beauty of aquatic life. The form of a whale's tail features on the FLUKE wall light, lifting its shade like a breaching silhouette, while the intersecting tails on the table lamp rise in a dancing loop, creating dynamism within the design and embodying the natural rhythm and flow of the sea. 

FLUKE is available in the unique David Hunt Lighting copper verdigris or new silver verdigris finishes, and each piece is hand patinated to create an organic surface. The collection can be combined with warm autumnal Spice satin shades for impact, creating a look that is at home on a sideboard in a main hall or a cosy reading room, or paired with shades in deep blues and sea greens to reflect the whales’ natural habitat colours of the ocean.

www.davidhuntlighting.co.uk

Ultra-Versatile Fabrics and Wallpapers for AW25

Natural forms, and artistic influences combine in the new collection of wallpapers and fabrics from Harlequin. From muted cornflower to deep aubergine and forest green, the bespoke palette mirrors the earth’s hues as they head through autumn into the winter sleep.

Patterns are a synergy of modern art and the beauty of forms found in nature, with yarns woven with intricate techniques to reflect the complexities of natural forms and sedimentation.

The versatile textured wallpapers are designed in the Harlequin studio and made in the UK at the brand’s historic factories in Loughborough and Lancaster. Sedimentary is a panel design of an abstract landscape, inspired by an archival artwork and Monolith alludes to the structural beauty of balancing rocks.

www.harlequin.design

British Ghanaian fashion designer and first black tailor to have a shop in London’s Savile Row, Ozwald Boateng. Photo ©Mark Anthony Fox

Assouline Launch the Ultimate London Book for Autumn

Where to go for a bespoke suit? Savile Row. For the contemporary art scene, Soho. For the royal treatment, Buckingham Palace. London is an endlessly diverse metropolis that defies characterisation: posh meets punk; regal yet underground; modern and classic. The presence of these contradictions imbues the capital with an indescribable aura of mystery and surprise. Meander from private members’ clubs and storied theatres to bustling markets and candlelit dining rooms as the city reveals itself as a living tapestry of black cabs and Georgian town houses. Escape the air of busy roads in one of the many green spaces – Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent’s Park, Hampstead Heath.

Author Charles Finch, the quintessential Londoner, opened the doors of the city’s coolest tastemakers, its most prestigious institutions, and its of-the-moment spaces for photographer Mark Anthony Fox to capture the people and places that represent the London of today. The faces of London’s who’s who: Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Daphne Guinness, Ozwald Boateng, Jeremy King… dot the pages of London Chic, a testament to the enduring allure of England’s capital.

Hardcover, 296 pages, £100 from

www.assouline.com