Spring events – our diary ideas for the season

With blossom all around and wisteria beginning to peak out on the front of the city’s finest architecture, Spring has officially sprung in London. We’ve been thinking about events coming up that are enticing us to get out and see things again, in a way that we weren’t quite so inclined to during winter! Below is a round up of things that have caught our eye for the coming weeks that we think you might be interested in too…

ravilious at Dulwich picture gallery

Head to South London to see the wonderful pencil and watercolour works of the artist Eric Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery. His paintings are beautifully detailed, some of them resembling prints, and although he is known for his watercolours of the South Downs his body of work also includes a vast collection of domestic scenes. Like Edward Bawden Working in his Studio, most of these err on the grand side of things thanks to a mix of ornate furniture with luxury printed fabrics set against unusual colour combinations.We have to salute Bawden’s decorating style here too – drapes, bell jars, busts, a striped mustard, green and pink rug, all the very opposite of a utilitarian work space. Even his rolled up paper looks just so. Look out too for A Farmhouse Bedroom, in which, the artist has recorded an historical love of pattern clashing that’s very 2015.

The Ravilious exhibition is on until August.

The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair at Battersea Park 

As you know we exhibited at the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair last month and the sister show is taking place in London this week in a huge marquee in Battersea Park. Like the Bath fair, the emphasis here is on the eclectic, and you’ll find decorative antiques, art and design pieces from a host of key dealers, many of them locals from London. The show, originally set up in 1985, was designed to appeal to interior designers and decorators by bringing together everything they’d want under one roof. This ethos remains and this week you can expect to find 20th Century furniture rubbing shoulders with folk art, 17th Century curiosities, rare musical instruments, antique lamps – all you can think of for the home and more. Our pick from the show is Molly Hogg Design, whose rugs and tribal artefacts are not to be missed. Have a sneak peak at her collection here.

The Fair is open tomorrow (April 21) until April 26. Find out more here.

Clerkenwell design week

That’s the wonderful Victorian Grade II listed Farmiloe building in Clerkenwell and the key venue for Clerkenwell Design Week, which opens next month ( 19 – 21 May). The historic warehouse with its original Victorian panelling and vast central atrium, has been used in many film sets (a few Batman movies notably). This is your chance to get a good look around while you eyeball the best furniture and products from international interior brands – eg Magis and Gervasoni – and individual makers from the UK, such as Eleanor Pritchard and Pinch. It’s also the place to catch up with some Milan highlights from last week’s eponymous furniture fair.

Make sure you head to the satellite shows too, especially Platform, which is a showcase of works by up-and-coming talent held in the vaults of the House of Detention – an atmospheric former prison that was also used as air raid shelters during the Blitz. CDR is definitely the design show of the year in terms of gaining access to some of hidden London. Register for tickets here.