Approximately 100 antiques dealers take part in this Fair. They come from around the UK and from Europe. Many of the Exhibitors deal privately and do not have shops so, for many of them, the Fair is their only opportunity to meet new clients.

The Fair has an international reputation amongst private buyers, antiques dealers and design professionals as an excellent source of high quality, competitively-priced antiques. These are stylishly displayed to reflect how the individual pieces might look within a home. The atmosphere of the Fair is distinctive – stylish but approachable, informal and not too stuffy. Children and well-behaved dogs are very welcome.

Since the first Decorative Fair eighteen years ago, the organisers’ aim has been to show how antiques can and should be used at the heart of the home and as part of every day living. Antiques are not only for serious collectors of particular objects but for people who simply enjoy having interesting and beautiful things around them at home. They can be used successfully with contemporary furniture. Just one antique piece – whether a lamp, a cushion or a painting – can add that vital element of individuality in the design of a room. They can be used to provide a splash of colour, an element of fun, or an element of seriousness.

A new feature exhibition at the Autumn Decorative Fair will be A History of Wallpaper Design – as Seen Through the Archives of Cole & Son.

The exhibition, viewed alongside the Fair, enables visitors to see for sale examples of furniture and decorative items through to the 1960s and today, together with some of the wallpaper designs that would have formed decorating schemes of the time.

Cole & Son, manufacturers of hand printed wallpapers since 1873, will present the varied history of wallpaper, incorporating designs influenced by the earliest papers of the C16th, through to the sumptuous designs of the 18th and 19th centuries. It will also include screen-printed papers of the 20th century, as well as designs updated for the 21st century.

On show will be original designs; pattern books; hand-carved wood printing blocks and rollers; flocked, blocked and screen-printed wallpapers, as well as other treasures from Cole’s unrivalled historic archive which includes some of the most important wallpaper designs in the world, ranging from the originals by A W Pugin for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament in the late-1840s, to bold 1950s designs, currently à la mode once again.

The Autumn Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair takes place at the Marquee, Battersea Park (Chelsea Bridge entrance) from Tuesday 5th to Sunday 10th October 2004. A courtesy shuttle service is available from The Moat House Hotel, Sloane Square.

Some 100 dealers exhibit at the Fair with furniture and objects of design from all periods to the present day. All items are vetted, so visitors can buy in confidence.

Patricia Harvey, along with her husband Ralph, who launched the Fairs in 1985, dropped datelines at the January 2004 event, in order to allow contemporary, original designs in to the Fair. “We have always led the way in providing inspirational, unusual antiques and period design pieces for the interior decorating market,” she says. “The time felt right to allow dealers and designers of new original one-off and limited edition pieces to join the contemporary art and sculpture which has had a presence at the Fair for some time. We see this new element at Battersea as providing decorators with carefully created and high quality new pieces that will be appreciated in years to come as decorative antiques in their own right.”

The Fair maintains its unique position in the decorative design market, and is open to both trade and private customers. Mrs Harvey ends by commenting: “We are the only decorating event to offer fine and unusual design of all periods to the present day. We hope visitors will find the new additions as exciting as we do.”