Midcentury.Modern, 21 March

We took a stand at the spring Midcentury.Modern exhibition last Sunday. This is a twice-yearly furniture fair held in Dulwich College, just down the road from our workshop. It’s been going for a few years but this is the first chance we’ve had to show our furniture there.

Pli at Midcentury.Modern

In fact it was just me: my colleague Alex had a family thing in Kent. So I was lugging furniture over to our stand from the workshop from 7 til 9 in the morning, then pitching our wares all day. Knackering! Brilliant day: perfect weather for this time of year, lots and lots of nice people asking intelligent questions about our work, then buying it! Luckily I left with half the furniture I arrived with – just the dining table and chairs to return to the workshop. I’ve been running tables over to customers for the last two evenings.

The fair was enjoyable in other ways, apart from the sales we made. Everyone seemed in a really relaxed and receptive mood. I could talk to people about our furniture and what we’re trying to do, with the materials and designs, to make it more sustainable. I had loads of feedback and encouragement from visitors and from the really cool exhibitors on the stands around me. There were familiar friendly faces passing by; designers I know, a couple of journalists who have covered our stuff, a brace of nephews. Our neighbour Kurt was selling his Full Steam coffee from out the back of his tuk-tuk downstairs. Made me feel all warm and local.

We’re still offering the discounts to south London customers we were advertising on Sunday: if you picked up one of our leaflets, get in touch. Delivery is free. Our stock of side tables, TV tables and occasional tables is running down pretty fast so you should contact us soon if you need them delivered in the next couple of weeks.

I should thank Petra and Lucy who organise Midcentury.Modern as well as all the helpful people who handled the entrance and parking. We’ll be back at Midcentury.Modern in November.