Charlotte Packer, Editor
Happy New Year! Welcome to the first issue of 2024, in which we look ahead to the key events on the antiques calendar, both at home and abroad.
Turn to page 102 and start planning your culture mini-breaks for the coming year: will it be Brussels, Maastricht, London or Paris? All four, perhaps. As Caroline Wheater says, whether you are a serious collector or simply a curious browser, prestigious annual fairs such as BRAFA and TEFAF are well worth visiting for their sheer scale, as well as the exciting range of art and antiques on offer.
Before you set off, be sure to read Serena Fokschaner’s antique trends forecast on page 84. Although, for many of us, the antiques we love are beyond fashion – after all, we are told regularly that we should buy what we love rather than whatever is currently in favour – the relationship between antiques and interior design can inspire new ways of seeing the things we choose to collect.
And on the subject of collections, we range far and wide in our features this month: Ellie Tennant scans fields and foreshores with detectorists and mudlarkers, the grassroots of collecting, you might say, while Luke Honey looks to the stars and surveys the evolution of planispheres – delightful, portable maps of the heavens.
Elsewhere, Celia Rufey delves into the history of moquette, a fabric that will doubtless be familiar to anyone who has ever travelled on the London Underground (p82). And for those of you with last-minute gifts to buy, Jenny Oldaker offers a fabulous selection of designer-made museum shop finds (p25).
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