Puppy Love, English Victorian Bamboo & Arundel

December 05, 2017

Puppy Love, English Victorian Bamboo & Arundel

Ahhh

Our puppy is doing well.

We have now had her just over 2 weeks.

Fun...challenging....

and tiring

Can't help but love'em can you?

Arundel By Candlelight

Was on Saturday.

The town was packed.

We had a stand in the High Street

which was a tight squeeze...thanks to everyone who came to say hello

English Victorian Bamboo

Here are a couple of our

English Victorian Bamboo Tables

Homes and Gardens Magazine.

So...how did they come to be in such a prestigious interiors magazine?

When this is how we found them.............

Now.....you may think, its just a tatty

old table, or bookcase

lying there in grannies shed

or down at the car boot sale.

You may think its from China, and it's new.

Or maybe, that its old, and from the orient.

Its a fascinating story and that table has

been around a lot longer than you have.

Well....unless you happen to be about 150 years old, that is.

The furniture was made circa 1860,

many of the factories were in London and Birmingham.

There were around 250 factories producing the pieces.

Its a great story and there are a few sites on line you can check it all out.

http://garycsharpe.blogspot.co.uk

Gary Sharpe now lives in

Edmonton Canada,

though, for 20 years,

was an antique dealer in the UK.

His site is full of interesting, interiors information,

and his knowledge on

English Victorian Bamboo

extensive.

Worth checking out.

Victorian Bamboo Table...with lions and leopards
this featured in Homes and Gardens magazine

Victorian Bamboo table....with chickens decoupage

Have a look on this link.

there is a massive
list of all the factories and
so much information it will boggle you.

As a Brighton gal at heart I always found it interesting
how the Brighton Pavilion played
such an important part in bamboo furniture's popularity.

When I was at school in Brighton
(The Blessed Sacrament Convent, yes a convent girl,
we had prize givings in the beautiful music room at the Pavilion.)

http://www.achome.co.uk/antiques/bamboo_furniture.htm

Here's some of what they say on the link,

"Undoubtably the best known Chinese bamboo furniture in England is at Brighton. Although Chinoiserie had faded in popularity during the 1780s and 90s it was suddenly brought back into the fore of public taste at the turn of the century by George, Prince of Wales, with the creation of the Royal Pavilion. The building that began its life as a `gentlemanly' farmhouse was to be transformed over a period of forty years into the most resplendent and bizarre royal fantasy. During its history designs were contributed by such accomplished architects as Henry Holland, his assistant P. F. Robinson, William Porden, Humphrey Repton and John Nash. The gardens were laid out by two pupils of Capability Brown, Lapidge and Hooper. From the beginning, the interior of the Pavilion was in the hands of the firm of John Crace & Sons, the principal designer being John's son, Frederick, admirably assisted by two remarkable designers, Robert Jones and Lambelet. Between them they created a new form of Chinoiserie with brilliant colours and exuberant decoration far removed from the earlier more restrained and delicate style."

http://www.victoriana.com/Travel/royalpavilion.htm

a bamboo cabinet decorated for House and Garden magazine shoot

We track down these
battered bamboo pieces
and bring them back to our Arundel studio.

They would probably have rattan on
the table surface, or lacquer, sometimes leather..

We clean them up, restore and sturdy them.

and then we paint and decorate them....

if they are in good shape we like to keep them as original as possible.
Its very rare though, and we usually restore & decorate them.

This table has botanical decoupage.
The images 19th century.

They take a long time to cut out, but I think it's worth it.

It was sold online and now resides in Paris, France.

we send them on their way....for another 100 years or more.........

some have been sold through our space in Liberty London

many items go off to America

appearing in some extremely upmarket stores.

Victorian Bamboo Table with chinoiserie ...we had my clever, artist,
Aunty paint this, and it sits very well with original painted pieces.

This had lovely lacquer.
We cleaned it up and left it all original.

Victorian Bamboo table....with butterflies decoupage

We were lucky to find a bedroom set of almost perfect bamboo.

We just decorated the top ...the rest we left original

Victorian bamboo bookcase with fish decoupage.

This is unusual...we don't often find such large bookcases.

English Victorian Bamboo Bookcase

This also was quite a treat to find.
After a 100 years the flaps on tables that are meant to have flaps...have long since disappeared.

one of our botanical bamboo tables in an old House and Garden magazine

Victorian Bamboo Cabinet with gilt and dragonflies

This is one of our cabinets in a magazine.
It went to a home via Liberty in London.
The home was featured in a magazine.
I spotted this quite by chance