Upbeat Battersea decorative antiques fair exhibitors reported good sales and a fair smattering of Americans. This three times a year fair seems to be best-rated consistently by the decorative antiques trade although a natural turnover of exhibitors always occurs. At January's fair there seemed to have been a shift away from garden antiques and towards painted and not-brown furniture. Some stands had particularly attractive reclaimed floors.
 
Amélie et Hervé Deneux from Normandy had a strikingly good looking floor of light oak finger parquetry which they bought from a Salle des Fêtes which was being stripped in Caen. They cut the floor into metre square panels which were then laid loose. This was their third year at Battersea, which they found was a stylish fair with a good ambience and pretty good for sales. Did the floor work for them? Yes, Amélie said it was a definite attraction and talking point - handy for anyone at a fair who wants to stand out from the competition.
 
Mike Chugg from Tetbury had a floor made of wire banded pine ware boards from the Potteries, one of which was marked 'A. Meakin' for Alfred Meakin, the Victorian Stoke on Trent Art Nouveau fireplace tilemaker. He said that he originally had a barnful of the boards which he found did attract comment from fairgoers, and that Battersea was a lovely fair with a good atmosphere.
 
Guy Trench of Antiques By Design, a Battersea stalwart whose luminescent confabulations continue to astound, was his enthusiastic self parked in his usual spot at the very back of Battersea's mass marquee. This year's new range of recrafted lighting included wall lights made from cameras, engine pistons and hub caps, a 1950s hairdresser's hairdryer standard lamp, and a whipple-stick kitchen downlighter. He was also showing a mangle-cutter base and reclaimed wood table, chaff-cutter and other mirrors. This year Guy will be at Salvo Fair as usual, as would his next door neighbour at Battersea, Gary Wallis who deals in decorative antiques and who also has a selection of fine architectural elements which he is planning to bring. He has visited but never pitched out at Salvo Fair, which this year is conveniently just down the road from his showroom.
 
Other architectural and garden antique exhibitors at Battersea included Robin Cox, Peter Sohler from Belgium, Maggie Charpentier, M R Antiques and Yew Tree Antiques.