For the December Fine Sale, Cheffins partnered with one of the interior design set’s most sought-after couples, Daniel Slowik and Benedict Foley. For the project, Benedict and Daniel curated a selection of furniture, artworks and collectors' items from this important auction and photographed them in-situ at their idyllic Dedham Vale cottage, whilst giving us some of their thoughts on how antiques and buying at auction can be the ultimately stylish and sustainable choice.
If you haven’t heard of the pair, Daniel Slowik, is an interior decorator and antiques dealer, who previously spent two decades at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler and recently has set up his own eponymous practice. Benedict Foley is a designer working across multiple disciplines, selling art and antiques and also as an interior designer. Benedict and Daniel’s charming home has previously featured in World of Interiors and also House & Garden Magazine.
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Lots from The Fine Sale, curated by Benedict Foley and Daniel Slowik
Here, Benedict gives us the background to the story.
“Clearly sustainability’s not just for Christmas, and yet we’d all like to make our homes special, feel festive, enjoy the thrill of the new-to-us alongside our familiar kit, and achieve all of this whilst maintaining perfect domestic harmony with our loved ones and make it all look like we live in 21st century rather than Ye Oldde Curiosity Shoppe. Quite a brief? Perhaps, but not as unachievable as you might think!
You’ll see lots of tech start-ups telling us they connect new end users with preloved goods, Fashion has been keen to make you feel they are onboard with sustainable principles for some time now, but what of Interiors? If you’ve been thinking about how you could make better choices and still love the space you live in there is good news! A highly sustainable shopping experience with a world of unique items already exists - the Auction House.
How does this work in practice? Aren’t auction houses a bit mysterious? The answer is no, it’s all about enjoying the process for what it is! Cheffins in Cambridge is an auctioneers that I’ve bought many treasures from over the years, they are just the sort of place I love. Sales cover the rare and unusual, they are part of a select band who have years of experience and do proper country house sales, but they also have regular sales including the sorts of things that we need for daily life, tables, chairs, that extra chest of draws for a bedroom. What could be more thrilling than being able to buy the useful and beautiful in one place, with a whole world of choice that regularly changes?
These beautiful images were shot in our home in the Dedham Vale, it is normally filled with items we’ve collected from auctions over the years, many from Cheffins, so it was a huge amount of fun to curate a selection of things we love from this sale alongside some of our own kit. The house is a modest but charming early 19th century cottage, originally it was a place we escaped to for weekends and so we’ve never spent a lot of time or money on building works - the plan was always to make a place that was enjoyable as quickly as possible! The uniqueness of items from auction is something we find genuinely thrilling, it gives a sense of character to a place, everything you see here was achieved in a single day, and despite knowing that much of it was going off to be offered for sale, we felt the result was perfectly our home!”
Lots from The Fine Sale, curated by Benedict Foley and Daniel Slowik, with props courtesy of Alexandra Tolstoy
Benedict’s top tips for decorating with antiques:
"When we moved to our place in the country several years ago, we had things we’d brought with us from our respective London homes, we moved these in, moved them round, laughed a lot about what we’d thought would fit and didn’t, and then got to work on how we’d fill out the gaps that remained. It’ll be a familiar experience for anyone who’s moved to a place with a bit more space.
We both work in Design so the ability to make decisions quickly about what goes in a space is something that we use on the daily, however you may be interested to know how we reach decisions as a couple! How on earth you might think can they make so many joint decisions quickly and not have blazing rows? Dear reader, we aren’t saints, but it does help to have a process in place!
Measure: utility furniture for things like storing your jumpers makes a huge difference to daily life if you move quickly. It doesn’t have to be the piece of your dreams, think decent construction and fill the space you have in mind efficiently. If you buy a workaday piece you can make it sing with a great lamp and a new shade.
Don’t be afraid of your walls: decide where key items will hang, and the rest will follow through. A painting of a good size over a sofa, a mirror over a fireplace. These might seem obvious places, but they give you the focal points to a room and a framework for incidental purchases later. Small pictures next to lamps break the formality of a hang and are well placed to be enjoyed at night as well as in the day.
Go large: the impact a great mirror or painting will make on your room cannot be underestimated, a sofa waiting to be recovered combined with a good wall colour and a great mirror will make more impact than a mid-range spend on all items. Size wise overscale is better than too small!
Collect together: choose an area you both might want to collect in, this is nothing to do with practical considerations, it’s just things you both enjoy. Try going through a few catalogues and marking what you individually enjoy, and then see where you overlap. If you have a joint collection in the house, it makes it much easier to live with your partner’s individual choices! We collect paintings of Venice; we both love the city so it wasn’t hard to agree on that! Small pieces like ceramics for the table or glasses are a great place to build up a harlequin collection, everyone in the household gets to add things without it needing to be a joint decision every time!
Have fun: a pop of colour or a funny face can make all the difference in a room, it lets people know your sense of humour, and keeps everything fresh. Auctions are full of curious items, what could be better than something unique and amusing!! Also remember that new made items are not a no no, just buy well-made items with real significance to you, get to know the brand who makes them and you’ll find there are lots of people making great things in the UK, small businesses tend to be low waste!
Don’t keep for best: we have items we use that are precious and give us a sense of occasion, if it’s the weekend and you've got friends over for dinner or drinks use your auction treasures! It’s a great talking point - sharing what you love about things - and marks off the week, especially if you’ve been spending more time working from home of late! Handling things as you use them reminds you of what you love about them (yes, that even includes the washing up!)
Don’t dwell: sometimes at auction you see something you love and it sales well beyond what you were prepared to pay for it, don’t be dejected, clearly you have great taste! The whole fun of auctions is that there are so many unique items out there, as well as models which are similar, if you regularly view sales you’ll get a sense of what is readily available and when to bring the big guns out. See it as fun!"
Table lay-up by Benedict Foley and Daniel Slowik, using tableware from the Cheffins Fine Sale, with napkins courtesy of Volga Linen
Benedict's key notes for auction first timers:
"Measure twice at least! And write it down to be sure the measurements tally.
You can ask for condition reports, if you can’t get to view an item in the run up to a sale then this will give you a good idea of what condition the item is in, you can ask for additional photos too. And don’t let a few minor defects put you off, life isn’t perfect!
View an item if you can, we love going to view sales, you see things you might not have noticed in the catalogue, if you’ve got a shortlist for each sale, you rarely go away empty handed.
Auctions sell on behalf of people, so you can’t return items like you would in a shop, but if you build up a relationship with a good auction house, you’ll get great advice and fantastic service, with all the information to hand good decision making becomes much easier! Each auction house has their own terms of sale, so familiarise yourself with them and if you’ve any questions about what that means in practice just ask!
The strength of an auction house is the people they put together to value things. It’s not a algorithm, it’s based on experience and a lifetime of skill and knowledge. They have edited things for your consideration, you then pick from their edit, and things come home to live in your space and be enjoyed by you!"
To read more about the project and view the catalogue for the Fine Sale, please click here