LAPADA FAIRS - LONDON
The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair
Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London
22-26 SEPTEMBER 2010
NEW LAPADA FAIR 'A TRIUMPH' in september 2009
Universal praise for BERKELEY SQUARE event
The first fair organised by LAPADA in a marquee in Berkeley Square was an unqualified success. All exhibitors were members of LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers so visitors could buy with the confidence of knowing that not only was everything offered for sale vetted by a team of experts but also that all exhibitors abide by LAPADA's strict Code of Practice. The second event will take place in Berkeley Square from 22nd to 26th September 2010.
From the opening of the Private View at 5pm on Wednesday 23rd September 2009, to the closing on Sunday evening, nearly 13,000 visitors came to the Fair. Sarah Percy-Davis, Chief Executive of LAPADA, and her team, along
with the 88 LAPADA members taking part, were fully justified in their belief that this first ever antiques and art fair to be held in Berkeley Square would be a huge success.
The attendance of an extremely high proportion of new visitors, many never yet seen at London antiques Fairs (even when LAPADA held its Fair at the RA) by these seasoned exhibitors, was much commented upon. Many dealers suspected some attendees had perhaps never set foot inside such a fair before. Visitors were of a high calibre, very much “the right sort”, with a significant proportion of them young and international. With an average of 2,800 visitors per day, even Friday was very busy – almost unheard of at any fair these days. Around two thirds of all sales were made to new customers, and some good business was done throughout the Fair.
High profile visitors included the designer Jasper Conran (overheard describing the fair as “beautiful and glamorous”), the American decorator Michael Smith (currently working for the White House), the fashion designer Alexander McQueen, author and TV presenter Melvyn Bragg, The Duchess of Bedford, John Redwood MP, the designer Henrietta Spencer Churchill, and senior figures from the business world.
