16 November 28, 2021The Sunday Times
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Mehydene says. “There was
no having to stand in front of
her and be embarrassed.”
Anna Haines, an interior
designer, also enjoys hunting
down art and antique frames
for her interiors, favouring
auction houses (she recently
bought a set of three paintings
from Roseberys in southeast
London), Instagram (move
quickly because things sell
fast), the annual Decorative
Antiques & Textiles Fair in
Battersea in south London,
Lassco (for salvaged frames),
as well as the Slade and Royal
College of Art end-of-year
degree shows. Her advice
when looking is to go with
what you love. “You don’tT
he fine art world is
often seen as
intimidating, and
inaccessible to
those without deeppockets. Which is a problem if
you’d just like to have
something nice to hang on
your walls. The answer is to
immerse yourself in the world
of decorative art — affordable
art for interiors — where it is a
very different story.
This type of art, bought for
joy not investment, can be
collected in all sorts of places,
from online galleries, auction
houses and Instagram dealers
to pop-up sales, flea markets
and antique shops. And there
are no stuffy rules as to how or
how not to hang it.
Lisa Mehydene, the founder
of the interiors brand Edit 58,
has a huge collection of
affordable art in her home,
including vintage oils, antique
samplers and modern
illustrations. During lockdown
she became addicted to online
auctions, and using Artnet and
the like to seek out Swedish art.
She says you don’t have to
follow traditional buying
methods. When she fell in love
with the work of the British
artist Caroline Popham, who
makes abstract papercuts, she
messaged her directly.
“She sent me a catalogue of
what she had available so I
could look in my own time,”How to buy (and hang) art for your own
enjoyment, not investment. By Victoria Maw
PICTURE
PERFECT MORGAN SENDALL; ANDREW STEEL; JESSICA ELLIS