Fairs and Markets

The National Botanic Gardens of Wales spreads out into 500-plus acres at Llanarthne in the Carmarthenshire countryside and boasts a spectacular structure designed by Norman Foster: the largest single-span glasshouse in the world.

With so many tribal art galleries concentrated in Brussels it is no surprise to find 10 specialists in the field showing at BRAFA, six of them from the Belgian capital.

Former courthouse in West Yorkshire opens as antiques centre and community hub.

Another returning BRAFA exhibitor is the Paris dealer Xavier Eckhout, who specialises in animalier sculpture from 1880- 1950.

BRAFA is a big draw for the visitor in late January but as well as enjoying all that Brussels has to offer in general cultural terms there are other art and antiques-related events on at the same time.

Among the numerous dealers at BRAFA showing early works of art is Brussels’ Gallery Desmet, which specialises in sculpture and objects ranging from Antiquity to the Grand Tour.

Whitford Fine Art from London is a long-standing BRAFA stalwart (understandably given that the gallery’s core stock is work by 20th century Belgian and international artists).

Finch & Co from London has been showing at BRAFA for 12 years. “We regard it as one of the most successful and well-organised art and antique events in Europe,” notes the firm’s Jan Finch.

Back by popular demand, says Caroline Brown of Rose & Brown Vintage, is her biannual Vintage Furniture and Home Fair held in the Old Woollen Room at the atmospheric Sunny Bank Mills, a former textiles mill in Farsley near Leeds.

One of the attractions of BRAFA, the Brussels art and antiques fair which is traditionally a new-year opener in continental Europe, is its breadth. This is not a specialist event: it concentrates on quality across a range of disciplines.

Janice Kehoe of Solo Antiques offers a French Art Deco vase signed 'R Lalique' at this month’s Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

As testament to the popularity of Love Fairs’ antiques and vintage events at both Brighton and Lingfield racecourses, the waiting list for both is in the hundreds, reports organiser Donny Mann.

With the auction scene in Continental Europe at a traditional low ebb in the first month of the year, the focus for international art world activity shifts across to the US.

Bi-monthly Sunbury event has carved out a strong niche – a picture special.

Seventy antique dealers and galleries from the US and overseas will gather at the Park Avenue Armory for the 65th edition of the 'Winter Show'.