Monday 5 May 2008

The Collector is dead, long live the collector. Antiques and Art are a hit.

Mouse has been a tad busy lately, so he has missed a couple of blogs. He is a cheery type. He has been looking to the future quite a lot lately, it is probably the sunshine I think. 'What we need to do', he mumbles through a mouthful of chocolate biscuits and wiping the crumbs from his whiskers, "is to get an integrated concept of art, design and antiques into our psyche... ". Puzzled, I interrupt and ask him what he means. Through slurps of ginger beer he elaborates, "Well, we might have to accept that the dedicated collector is on the way out". I think my worried look spurs him to become a bit more expansive. "Look, it's not a problem, we might be looking at reducing numbers of the monotheistic dedicated collector, but we could be seeing the rise of a new generation of collector."
From left to right, Art Nouveau Copenhagen, Kerry Goodwin design for Cobridge and a L Hjorth figure. Age span 100 years, roughly!

I think I am catching his drift, but I can tell he's not convinced. He continues. "We need to instill a new attitude of integration between the new and the old. Instead of antiques being a niche market, we should be working for them to become a fully integrated part of decoration and design. So a buyer is just as likely to buy a glass from a dealer as say, IKEA. We need to market and advertise ourselves very differently". I puzzle about this for a minute or two, wondering how to set about this. But it's too late, Mouse has wandered into the garden, vizor in hand, off to his favorite deck chair. There'll be no shifting him before the twilight.

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