The South African Antique Art and Design Association (Saada) opened its annual fair with a gala event at the Killarney Country Club on 9 November.
The fair, which hosts a variety of antique dealers from around the world, displayed an assortment of antique furniture, art and jewellery from 9 to 12 November.
One of the exhibitors, Ed Pascoe, travelled from Miami in the United States to exhibit his extensive collection of Royal Doulton figurines. “Most of my customers live in this area and I wanted to do an event that was very up-market. In this country there is a huge market; there’s even a Doulton Collectors Club in Johannesburg.”
Pascoe added that his experience at the fair this year had been great and well worth the effort of transporting the collectables from overseas.
Thami Dlamini, another exhibitor at the event, displayed artworks from his studio Art Lefatshe. The studio brings together arts from around South Africa as well as other African countries and gives them a platform to display their work.
Dlamini, who is an abstract artist, has been working in art galleries and through that developed the skills and the passion to promote other artists.
“We’ve got a lot of artists at our studio currently. We have about 13 artists from Cape Town, Joburg, Zimbabwe and the DRC (The Democratic Republic of the Congo) as well. I’m in the art community so my friends are artists as well and we connect,” said Dlamini.
Some of the pieces on display include a selection of Chinese porcelain bowls, dating from the 1600s, vintage jewellery and Cape Rococo furniture. One of the patrons at the event, Liz Warren, has been attending the occasion for many years.
“We’re very interested in antiques and we’ve really enjoyed the fair this year; we’ve made lots of friends. We got a mug, depicting Edward VIII, who managed to be king for less than a year, and I’ve also bought some earrings made out of circuit boards,” said Warren.
The art fair, which had previously been held at the Wanderers, moved to the Killarney Country Club this year in order for Saada to be more selective about its exhibitors.
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