4 minute read
A good vintage: TV’s Eric Knowles on opening his new decorative arts emporium on The Pantiles
by One Media
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Tunbridge Wells has an exciting new decorative arts and design emporium headed up by TV presenter and specialist Eric Knowles. SO finds out more about this Aladdin’s Cave of aesthetic artefacts…
The Pantiles Arcade is a new, indulgent shopping experience dedicated to showcasing decorative art and design from the 17th Century to the present day.
And since it opened last month it has proved to be very popular with both locals and those from further afield...
Stage one of the ongoing refurbishment to one of the most iconic buildings on The Pantiles is now complete and the one-time theatre and Corn Exchange has been reinvented as a retail space for highend decorative arts.
A curated collection of diverse objects d’art is already being presented in the most stunning of locations; historic English porcelain and glass, silver tableware, art deco furniture, sumptuous art glass and an evergrowing selection of Tunbridge Ware to ensure that the business properly celebrates local craftsmanship and reflects its illustrious clientele.
Front and centre of the experience will be Eric Knowles – the much fêted and popular figure from television, renowned for his expertise in many avenues of antiquarian endeavour. Eric has come on board as Chairman having embraced the idea of being able to translate an existing and successful on-line business – ScottishAntiques.com – into a bricks and mortar manifestation from where he can readily project his personality and share his enthusiasm and knowledge with anyone who is kind enough to pay a visit.
Eric says: “I am both pleased and immensely proud to have been asked to be the figurehead for this very exciting adventure into the decorative arts – it's an opportunity to both indulge my own enduring passion and share it with other people on a whole new level.”
Photos © David Bartholomew
With this firm basis in the fastpaced world of on-line commerce, the whole enterprise is a paradigm shift away from the conventional idea of a quiet, dusty store tucked away in a back street. There is a continual turnover of stock with new items available on a daily basis. However, in the unlikely event that there’s nothing which immediately catches your eye, Eric will be offering a service whereby we are able to use our network of contacts and confidantes to source any rare and unusual items that you may covet.
Neither is it just a case of trusting to luck with regard to desirable objects becoming available – ScottishAntiques.com work alongside some of the UK’s most popular contemporary designers and artists, commissioning brand new pieces.
The reanimated Pantiles Arcade opened its doors for the first time at the beginning of July, and the owners “I will be hosting a series of lively and informative lectures at the venue”
have been enormously pleased with the interest and support being shown in the new venture. There seems to be a genuine pleasure being taken from the fact that the old building of somewhat ill-defined identity is being given the opportunity to carve out its own distinctive niche within what is already a thriving centre for commerce and tourism.
Eric is being aided and abetted in his enterprise by former colleagues and new collaborators alike; the Design Gallery have brought an exceptional range of Art Deco furniture along which complements the decorative glassware from the likes of Lalique, Daum and Gallé; horologist Richard Price is the latest initiate in to their happy band, and they are all overshadowed and illuminated in equal proportions by the stunning presence of the works of Wilkinsons – chandelier makers of Royal Warrant to Her Majesty the
Queen – and whose magnificent pieces hang resplendent from the vaulted ceiling of the atrium.
In the next few months, Eric will be hosting a series of lively and informative lectures at the venue to further engage with the public, and the potential remains to stage more of the ever-popular valuation days along the lines of the successful venture which marked the recent re-opening of the Pantiles Arcade.
In the Spring of 2022, the regeneration project will enter its second phase with additional retail space becoming operational, and further luminaries of the trade coming on board; noted auctioneers, very significant names in historic and contemporary art glass – and more of Eric’s esteemed colleagues. There can be no better way of celebrating what will be the 220th anniversary of the first opening of the building in its role as a theatre back in 1802 than for it to be once again become a go-to destination for locals and visitors alike.
