Comments on: Where Dennis Severs Bought His China

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 07:42:42 +0000

A veritable Aladdin’s Cave! I wonder what happened to this treasure trove after Stephen Long’s sad passing? Growing up in Chelsea, I remember visiting what we children called a Junk Shop somewhere in that direction. There was a box inside the door, with lots of bits and pieces costing just a few pence. I now wonder if this was the place?

By: Guillaume

Guillaume — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 20:06:43 +0000

Another beautiful post, and so many interesting comments!

I love the shelf and decorated table in picture five; well, I love all the pix. Love the draped lady in – what?- plaster. Regency? I imagine it had been some sort of lamp. Oil? Very early gas?

I hate it that this lovely, layered interior will be ripped out. Or is the whole terrace doomed?

Beauty, the flower under the foot.

By: Lizebeth

Lizebeth — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 14:59:50 +0000

Wow, your readers have most interesting comments. I, too, dealt in small antiques for a short while, and I mourn the death of most of the tiny and fascinating shops I used to go into and chat with the owners for hours on end. Why are we subjected to the uglification of everything these days? It seems Amazon is true to its namesake, and is taking over the world. Soon we won’t have any shops at all (the pandemic has not helped them, either). What I want to know is: what has happened to all this wonderful stuff? I never see it now. And I would like to have some of it!

Thank you for your Blog — the first thing I turn to each day.

By: Judith

Judith — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 14:59:25 +0000

His shop is a lovely tribute to the man . Thank you for posting this.
Judy

By: Gilbert O'BRIEN

Gilbert O'BRIEN — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:59:14 +0000

A very interesting — and timely, given the imminent opening of Dennis Severs’ house — article, although a bit confusing re the time frame, as Stephen Long died several years ago. I met Stephen Long a couple of times towards the end of the last century. He was a close friend of a close friend, the artist/photographer called John Vere Brown. They both had similar tastes, and had a strong influence on one another. John Vere Brown (JVB) was one of the first (if not the very first) people to photograph houses for Interiors (in fact he took the first ever photographs of Giverny when it opened to the public in about 1980) and later took extensive photos of Stephen Long’s flat which appeared in Interiors (perhaps by then rechristened The World of Interiors) in the (I think) late 90s. The photos — which presumably are available in the Interiors archive — have a look of the shop, only more so, and I would guess that the flat, as well as the contents of the shop, were an influence on Dennis Severs and his house. There was a great deal of casually worn expertise and knowledge exercised by John Vere Brown and Stephen Long, a combination of learning and taste and a quirky insight into the found treasures of market stalls. John Vere Brown (who I think was a few years older than Stephen Long) claimed to have originated the expression ‘shabby chic’ in the 1960s, although this was disputed by Min Hogg (founding editor of Interiors) who claimed she had started the expression in the 80s. Stephen Long was an ace representative of the style, and it is surely no accident that he would have known Min Hogg as well as John Vere Brown. They were all in their ways beholden to market stall sellers like the then famous Reg of Inverness Street in Camden Town. Reg had been on his stall (in reality two or three wall paper pasting tables) since the 50s I think — certainly he was established there by the early 60s. He was a totter who sold his house clearance treasures in the market on Thursdays and Saturdays. Mostly what one found went for tuppence or four pence ha’penny. He famously had an argument with a punter who found a piece of pottery (sic) and asked the price:
‘Tuppence,’ said Reg.
‘But Reg,’ said the punter: ‘it’s Meissen.’
‘Oh, aw right, six pence then.’
It is via that lineage that the Stephen Longs and the Dennis Severs of this world have descended. (Geoffrey Fletcher, whose books have been written about by the Gentle Author, illustrated that world.) We have the benefit of their creative quirks, their gifts of taste and their abilities to assemble the crumbling bits of the past and set them out as a gift to us in this drab corporate age when the Chain is King and the small antique shops, as the Gentle Author notes, are disappearing from the streets. Dennis Severs house is a tribute to those people, none of whom would have expected their legacy to find expression in an old house in Spitalfields. We should be grateful they were there, all those years ago, doing ‘their own thing’.

By: Cherub

Cherub — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:46:07 +0000

In German speaking Switzerland as well as antique shops there are also what are called Brockiehaus shops, which are akin to what we refer to in Britain as junk shops. You can get some real “finds” in them, a lot of things come from house clearances. I’ve spent many happy hours rooting through old china and glassware and have bought things I’ll take back to Britain when I retire. I just wish I could ship an old Swiss / Germanic cupboard back, some I see are beautifully painted, but they’re huge. I believe these shops also exist in Germany and France under the same name, they are a magnet for ex-pats looking to furnish a home cheaply.

By: Linda Granfield

Linda Granfield — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:22:09 +0000

Thank you for capturing that “one last afternoon”–this is a lovely eulogy for the man, and the shop that you rightly say is a business fast disappearing from streets all over the world.

Toronto used to have similar delightful spots to window-shop (or actually shop) through history–now steel and glass condos are plunked down on those streets. No reason to look with wonder through those windows!

The street-view of 348 Fulham Rd today shows that the ironwork Victorian frontage was replaced by ugliness. Just plain ugliness. It loudly shouts, ‘keep walking, nothing beautiful here anymore.’

By: Helen H

Helen H — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:14:33 +0000

What a shame, and thank you for sharing this. We lost a very old antique shop in our town due to redevelopment. On another note I remember Dennis Severs saying he bought some of the Delft pieces that sit in display above one of the fireplaces, from Schipol Airport! He was after all, the master of illusion!

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 11:53:15 +0000

Wow an Aladdin’s cave of beautiful antiques. I used to go to antique fairs just to look at the lovely pottery. Thanks for sharing your photos.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 11:39:43 +0000

I enjoyed this little shopping expedition today, even though I am still in my pajamas and haven’t had my morning coffee yet. I’ve found the perfect thing. That little Gothic chair. I have to have it. I will put it in my bedroom, piled with a stack of books.

Just imagine…….each object in these photos will eventually fall into admiring, appreciative hands. And the stories will continue.

Thank you, GA.