Friday Folks – Kiera Buckley-Jones

three vintage Welsh wool blankets hanging from the wooden handrail of a humpback bridge

If we hadn’t started H is for Home, I (Adelle) would have loved to be an interiors stylist on a glossy homes magazine. This week’s Friday Folks interviewee, Kiera Buckley-Jones, is actually living (and working) that dream! We’ve known Kiera since the really early days of H is for Home and she regularly features our wares in her photo shoots. We were glad of this opportunity to find out a bit more about her working life.

Who are you & what do you do?
I’m Kiera Buckley-Jones and I’m the in-house stylist at Homes & Antiques magazine. This involves organising photo shoots, producing shopping pages and coming up with ideas of how to show antique and vintage collectables at their best.

How did you get into the business?
I started by doing work experience at various homes magazines in London, which was a great opportunity to get some hands-on shoot experience. Through these placements I met a number of stylists who I then assisted over the years, learning on the job. When the opportunity came up at Homes & Antiques, it really was a dream position as I’ve always loved going to jumble sales, collecting and history; and now I get to combine all these interests in each feature/project I work on.

Who or what inspires you?
Old magazines and films are great reference tools. I’m also inspired by collectors (and I meet a lot of these), people who are passionate, knowledgeable and have dedicated their lives to their subject.

_{selection of Mdina Glass from the current (March 2012) issue of the Homes & Antiques magazine}

What has been your greatest success?
It was tremendous fun working on the Hemingways’ Museum of 51 last summer at the Southbank. I was given the task of creating a Homes & Antiques 1950s living room to reflect the design of the period. I begun my research by looking at old footage of the Festival of Britain site at the Southbank and reading home improvement magazines of the early fifties. The room needed to reflect the optimism of the period, the colour and the sense of the ‘new’.

Have you got any advice for someone wanting to break into the business?
Get as much experience as you can, as you never know when it will come in handy. Not only will this help you develop your skills, you’ll also meet lots of contacts along the way.

Midcentury Mag

We have a regular book review feature on our blog, but today we’re looking at a magazine.

The biannual publication of Midcentury has recently been launched, so it’s especially nice to be able to cast our eye over edition number one.

It’s a subject close to our hearts too – namely Mid-Century Modernism.

We’ve been reading our copy over the weekend and have been thoroughly enjoying it.

Articles in this edition include an in-depth look at the ever-expanding Midcentury Modern Show and an interview with the founders & organisers, Petra Curtis & Lucy Ryder Richardson.

The Festival of Britain features prominently – both details of the original spectacular exhibition and current events to mark this, its 60th anniversary.

There’s a look at the hit TV show, Mad Men and its influence on the current Mid Century Modern renaissance.

Regular features are set to include the Buyer’s Guide to a design classic (the Eames rocker); Collector’s Perspective (the sculptures of Brian Willsher), Designer’s Eye (fashion designer, Margaret Howell‘s choice of 3 fave MCM pieces)’ Curator’s Choice which highlights a current exhibition (Robin & Lucienne Day at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester) and Mid Century Home, (in this edition, a tour of Cathy Spooner & Peter Walls’ house in Crystal Palace, London).

There’s an excellent directory of specialist MCM stockists, designers & dealers.

Format wise, it’s between A4 and A5 – and there are 66 pages in all. A subscription costs £6.95 per year for two issues, £10.95 in Europe and £13.95 to the rest of the world. The price includes postage.

Hopefully this is the start of something great – so get your hands on a copy, have a browse and let them know what you think.

L is for… London

There’ll be many eyes- all around the world – focusing on London this week with the Royal Wedding happening on Friday…

…so ‘L’ just has to be for London!

We’ve gathered images of H is for Home shop stock items – past & present, that celebrate the capital city…

…famous landmarks, archetypal characters and classic scenes.

They’ve appeared on all kinds of products…

…lots of tins, pottery and book illustrations…

…and tea towels, posters and postcards.

We’d be tempted to have quite a collection if we were London dwellers!

We can’t resist a few pieces, even though we live out int’ sticks oop North.

We often see London-tastic products in the glossy interior magazines and websites – and we usually forget to bookmark them!

However, you’ll always find some good stuff at places like the London Transport Museum or V & A Museum web shops…

…and take a look at the “London Calling” Etsy Treasury that we’ve put together.

P.S. – Another special London event started last week – commemorating the original 1951 Festival of Britain.

We loaned a few items to Kiera Buckley-Jones from BBC Homes & Antiques Magazine. She has recreated rooms from the period. Read her blog series charting its development here. We’re hoping to take a little trip down south to see it before it finishes in September.

Festival of Britain

We mentioned buying this Festival of Britain brochure in our last blog – Five Flea Finds.

We’ve really enjoyed flicking through it.

Quite a few people have expressed an interest, so we thought we’d share some of its contents with you.

The Festival was held in 1951 – it celebrated the centenary of The Great Exhibition held in 1851 – but was also intended to showcase Britain in the mid twentieth century.

What an exciting event in must have been – with the new wave of optimism after the Second World War.

Exhibitions were held around the country, the main site occupying a position on the South Bank in London which was completely redeveloped.

The Festival had a great influence on architecture, interior and product design in the years that followed.

The brochure contains about 100 pages in total.

It highlights the main attractions – exhibition spaces & their contents, new structures (including the Royal Festival Hall and the famous Skylon), the designers involved etc.

As is often the case with publications from this era, there are some fantastic advertisements too…

…bold, colourful and forward-looking.

The brochure is a must have item for Festival of Britain collectors – but also of broader interest to fans of modernism & mid twentieth century design.

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Festival of Britain

Friday Folks – Kiera Buckley-Jones

Midcentury Mag

L is for… London

Festival of Britain