I’ve just read an article in a trade publication about Olympia and Grosvenor House- both concluded the middle of last month. Certainly it serves everyone in the antiques trade very well to puff the performance of a couple of the world’s best fairs, but, with the post-fair hype, I’m given to wondering if I was at the same fairs. We always struggle to find accurate intelligence, other than our own observation, about fair performance. Of course, we want to determine generally how the trade is doing, and we also want to determine whether we would want to commence, or discontinue, participation.
Unfortunately, not too many of our colleagues will tell us the truth about how well they’ve done at a fair. Dealers fall into three main categories- those who boast about how well they’ve done, regardless of actual; those who complain about how they’ve done, regardless of actual; and those who are reticent to say anything. We fall into the last category, and the first two are the ones, naturally enough, who are interviewed by the trade papers.
We’ve found the most accurate source of information is our shipper- he handles material for a lot of people, does transatlantic as well as European shipments, and is on the ground with all the other shippers, looking at the comings and goings. Unfortunately, what we hear is that the outgoings of sold items were pretty light. Further, attendance was not too good, either, with not many Americans, and, more important, particularly at Olympia, not many American interior designers.
What we do know, however, is that what sold at both fairs were pieces of particular quality, almost entirely to private collectors- and in the six-figure price range and above. As well, the buyers were strong currency buyers- Europeans- and Russian oligarchs. Certainly Christies capitalized on the wave of well-heeled collectors who bought the daylights out of the pieces in Simon Sainsbury’s collection, and the ‘extraordinary’ pieces in the evening sale. Frankly, a number of record prices for English furniture were set, then exceeded, and then exceeded again at Christie’s sales on June 18.
This all may seem at variance with a slow Olympia and Grosvenor House, but, as someone who travels commercially, it really isn’t. If you were an American trying to book a flight to England during early or mid-June, you will know for certain that the airlines have become no friend of the traveler. Expensive flights, cancelled flights, and booking difficulties quickly became the rule in May. Would that have made a difference in fair performance? Well, frankly, if one expected a good contingent of interior designers from the US, the answer is emphatically yes. As anyone in the trade knows, designers shop when they have clients to shop for. Do they browse the fairs for fun? Generally not. For most designers, a fair venue is just like going to the fabric house- you don’t go there unless you are looking to buy.
Now, back to late May. Designers, if they are shopping, typically don’t get the shopping go-ahead from clients until the last minute. Our own gallery experience tells me that- designers from out of town will ring up a couple of weeks in advance to inform us of a pending shopping trip, but never- well, hardly ever- are they able to confirm their arrival until a day or two beforehand. The why of this is variable, but generally, it has to do with the desire of the designer to bring their client along with them. We like that, too- a designer visit with their client has a far greater propensity for translating into a sale than a designer collecting a tearsheet, and then trying to sell it remotely to a client. Clients are busy people, whose interest in design is dependent on the amount of time, and not just money, to devote to it. Consequently, designers are always making last minute arrangements dictated by the available time of their clients. If the airlines have few travel options, and what flights are available are pricey, this can easily mean the difference between travelling to shop and buy- or not going at all. This year, ‘Not going at all’ seems to have been in the preponderance.