Australian Financial Review

Friday, 14 December 2012

The mood in decor is to mix it up and make it your own,

Writes Anna McCooe.

(Australian Financial Review – Extract only)

One day mahogany is in, the next it's out. Antique trends, like fashion and business, shift with the times. The astute buyer will pre-empt the mainstream; wading through dust and cobwebs to get to the next big thing before the rest of us catch on. Some will invest for money, others love. Either way, it's rewarding. Like any other market, the collectables game is ruled by supply and demand. In Australia, right now, thanks to the soaring dollar and the flat European and American markets, supply is up. Plus, there has also been an increase in quality reproduction antiques on our shores. Demand is also on the rise as Australian pop culture (The Block) embraces decorating. But that just creates more volume. Geoffrey Clark, director of Sydney antiques institution The Country Trader, says he has brought prices down by 60 per cent in recent years. It's not because business is bad. "The makeover show has shown people style in a context they can relate to.  Australians are now very home aware and our residences are a large part of capital base," he says. "We're not buying antiques for a lifetime any more, but we are buying more often." So what are we shopping for? Clark says the industrial trend – all scuffed metal and chipped enamel has peaked and that demand has already fallen 50 per cent to 75 per cent from last year. "Industrialism had a confidence and brutalism to it but we are now wanting more softness without losing patina." Deconstructed furniture is in. "Armchairs are being undressed back to their underwear," Clark says. Basically, hessian and calico lining is exposed and expressed to make a decorative chair simpler and more architectural. Scrubbed timber and scuffed painted surfaces are on trend too. "People are going for patina and character," Clark explains. "It's about getting a texture that most residential situations don't afford." Don't read these developments a! a revolt against shiny, modern aesthetics. Clark says the old and the new go hand in hand. "When you put texture next to gloss both look better; the beauty is in the counterpoint." The overwhelming direction, however, is the rise of individualism. "The concept of a period house full of period furniture is completely finished," says Clark. "People don't want to be one of the masses, they're revelling in individuality, being avant-garde." Candles are hot. "We've been blown away by a four-year trend that has seen candlesticks and candleholders increase in sales by hundreds of per cent," he says. "But they are an effective way to change the perception of a room. “The latest trends, in old and new wares, reflect an Australia that has grown more confident in itself and which is no longer trying to replicate an inherited English grandeur.