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Mark Hill & Kelli Ellis's Top Picks from LoveAntiques.com
LoveAntiques.com partners with Mark Hill and Kelli Ellis who select some of their favourite items after LoveAntiques.com's new website launch!
At LoveAntiques.com we strive in providing our antique dealers and all of our customers the best platform to sell and buy antiques. After recently launching the new website, which aims to be more efficient and user-friendly, we were excited to partner with Mark Hill & Kelli Ellis to provide an exclusive sneak peak to their top picks from the website and how they experienced the updated and improved antiques platform. The new and improved website aims to save dealers more time in uploading their items, meaning they can fully utilise all aspects of the e-commerce website and spend more time doing what they do best.
LoveAntiques.com were excited to welcome Mark Hill, a well-known antiques specialist - who has withheld a passion for antiques since his childhood after his strong interest in Bagpuss, Lovejoy and the Antiques Roadshow - discusses how he found the experience and what items spoke out to him the most.
Mark Hill has many recognisable achievements including being an expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow and has appeared on the BBC 20th Century Roadshow and Priceless Antiques Roadshow. Mark is the world's leading dealer in mid-century modern Czech glass, and also deals in other decorative mid-century modern glass and ceramics from across Europe.
The exciting review also included Kelli Ellis, a celebrity interior designer who represents the epitome of liveable luxury, casual international style mixed with rock star glam. Keli has featured on popular shows as a designer, such as Clean Sweep, Celebrity Holiday Homes and more. Based in Barcelona, her influences translate to a named furniture collection with Sunpan Modern Furniture, an art collection with Leftbank Art and the luxe Kelli Ellis Collection for Tilebar.
To bring education to all designers, she co-created Interior Design Camp and Design Campus, the world’s leading interior design conference, educating thousands of interior designers, decorators, and design lovers nationally and internationally. And most recently the creator of the DESIGN MasterMind, coaching top designers from across the country.
Mark Hill begins the review by expressing how - just like on the roadshow - there is ‘so much to choose from!'. LoveAntiques.com prides itself on providing thousands of antiques which are easily accessible to anyone so it pleasing to hear how Mark feels browsing antiques on LoveAntiques.com is ‘like Christmas everyday!’
After browsing through thousands of antiques, Mark Hill begins by choosing an art deco light, describing the piece as ‘shouting design and quality’. At LoveAntiques.com we understand how important lighting is to a room, so choosing that piece that fits with your theme and also provides the lighting you need can be challenging. We are delighted to be able to help people find their perfect light from our fabulous dealers. Mark expresses how there is something especially fabulous about early 1930s art deco chrome plating and how it reflects the light and helps with the function of the object, whilst providing that quality inside the object itself. Mark feels it's an extremely special object and what he loves about it is how it's sculptural as well as practical, so even when it is the daytime and you're not using the light function, it's the centrepiece of a table as well.
Keli Ellis describes the light as 'the jewellery of the room', as she feels it sets the tone for any room it's placed in, in a stunning way. “Inside each of those geometric shapes you’ve got these alternating bars of frosted, clear and plain glass rods”, which reflects the light that little bit more making it a definite attention piece. The practical benefits are just one positive of this tremendous object, the light was described by Mark Hill as "Brightening up the people in the room's day" as well.
The ‘Modernist Table Lamp c.1930 is available on LoveAntiques.com by Augustus Brandt Antiques for £1200.
View the Modernist Tab le Lamp c.1930
Mark Hill’s second top pick was discovered when he saw a perfect decanter to hold his much-loved wine in the evening, and what's better than serving your wine in a beautiful glass decanter, allowing any bottle of wine to taste luxurious.
The ‘Rare Georgian Magnum Decanter' has been sold for £695. View more antique decanters available for sale by Graham Smith Antiques Ltd on LoveAntiques.com.
The early 19th century decanter was made around 1810-1820 and is a very typical form and design that you would find from a decanter in that era. The shape is sometimes known as Prussia shape, having that mallet shape to it - along with the three rings cut at the top- which began being added to decanter's around that period. Thee three rings are for decorative purposes but are also functional - to hold on to the decanter when you pick it up, especially helpful after a glass or two! This stunning piece is a beautiful addition to your drinks table or cabinet.
There are some people who may say "what is the point of a decanter?", Mark believes that decanters really make a difference if you are drinking wine, as it tastes so much better after you’ve poured it into the decanter. It also makes for a wonderful decorative addition to your drinks table. If you're having people over for a party then this decanter holds not just one, but two glasses of wine, allowing you to keep serving wine without any trouble. Decanter's can really make a difference if you're drinking wine, even with a cheaper bottle of wine, Mark Hill says once you've poured the wine into the decanter it "becomes a sense of ceremony that will positively sparkle."
Winter nights are drawing closer and with people staying at home during their evenings than ever before, curling up with a book is likely to be a favourable choice from many this winter. There's something special about being home in your nest and Mark Hill discovers this Late Victorian Wingback Armchair on LoveAntiques.com that he would love to curl up into!
The armchair is designed in the Georgian style and produced in the Late Victorian Period. What is especially attractive about this armchair is the depth of the seat, allowing you to really curl up in it and relax and lay our head on the wingbacks. The shape of the chair is magnificent as the curves and lines make it a sculptural piece of furniture, allowing the chair to stand on its own and no longer be pushed back against a wall, but the centrepiece of the room.
Kelli Ellis agrees that the beautiful wingback chair can stand alone in the room instead of being backed up against the corner. "There is something about the wingback that makes you feel like you're in your own cocoon, a privacy area but you're still in the middle of the room, with a beautiful table next to it, in front of a bookcase...". Kelli goes on to express how much she loves the legs and feet of the armchair, they are a very heavy and characterful addition to the magnificent armchair, personally carved out of a block of wood which just truly shows the quality in design of the piece of furniture. Mark Hill goes on further by expressing how if you go down the high street you won’t be able to find the quality that comes with antique furniture.
What’s more to add is the beautiful grey colour brings the design out of the 1800s and brings it ‘bang into 2020’, Kelli challenges anyone to find an interior that this chair wouldn't work in!
Antique furniture is becoming more on trend as we enter 2021. Furniture trends are changing and you can keep up with the current and upcoming trends by shopping Antique and Vintage pieces exclusive on LoveAntiques.com, each piece comes with history and a story that you can bring home with you.
Mark’s next top pick is a bit more personal, his love for jewellery. Although Mark couldn't wear the fine piece of jewellery himself, he can't ignore how appealing the design is.
“This is a piece of jewellery that I am really attracted to…” A Silver Sterling Necklace, made in Denmark by Emil Hansen, the well-known Danish silversmith. Mark loves how the necklace hangs, and even though he isn't a necklace wearer himself he can imagine how the necklace feels around your next is as important as the design of the necklace. Kelli Ellis agrees by saying "You know what to expect with the weight, the coolness of the metal on your neck, it's something that I'd 100% want to try on... and then walk out wearing it! It's a statement piece that it's beautiful!".
"The necklace fits in with the Danish/Scandinavian Jewellery trend that's going on right now, lots of people are buying these clean-lined modernist pieces." Mark adds. "We don't know too much about Emil Hansen, we know that he started his company about 1894, and it closed in the early 1970s, there's very little known and that's why for me this almost feels like a steal at £325, from Dansk Silver."
"It's also backed up with the fact that the look - I think Ancient Egypt - which adds something ancient and classic about it but it's also so rooted in mid-century modern... I think it's a really stunning piece."
Mark Hill's next choice is a Pair of Metal & Wood Trunks by Excelsior USA, pictured below.
"I think a lot of people may think that antiques are these things to be revered and you have to treat them carefully, and of course you do but you have to treat them carefully just as much as you have to treat anything carefully! I think these two trunks are very functional and decorative, and have real use that you can use again.. again.. and again!". The two metal and wood trunks are early 20th century, made by Excelsior, an American luggage company.
"I just love the look - especially the one on top with that bold X - it just really makes a big statement, the wonderful luggage labels and the remains of where they've been!
"These have been made to be used, cast your mind back to when you travelled with boats and cars and these pieces were stacked on top of each other, the glamour of the era when these things were made. We didn't have to worry about weights then, so these things were made to be this heavy".
How would Mark use them in his home? The trunks could be used firstly, as a coffee table, after sticking a bit of glass on top! Secondly, you can use them in a guest room to store bedding in, your guest can even stick their bags in there then if they wish too, acting as brilliant storage. "They're wonderful pieces that are decorative and functional, and it's those luggage labels that I love!".
We finished off the fantastic review of the items available to purchase on LoveAntiques.com by Kelli Ellis expressing just how amazing she found the items available for sale and how anyone searching for antiques will get some great finds from LoveAntiques.com, "we've got some real winners here!".
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