A conversation with Sandra Cronan by Michalina Franasik - Photographer, Writer, Treasure House Fair Communications Manager. The Met Gala has long been fashion’s most anticipated night—a spectacle where creativity, celebrity, and couture collide under a unifying theme. Much like TEFAF is to the art world, the Met Gala is fashion’s cultural apex, a platform where craftsmanship and symbolism are on full display. This year’s theme, “Tailored for You,” tied to the Costume Institute’s exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” offered more than sartorial inspiration—it reignited interest in jewellery's most symbolic accessory: the brooch. We asked vintage jewellery dealer Sandra Cronan, whose collection includes everything from 17th century through to the early 20th century, about this renewed fascination What brooch would you wear to the Met Gala, if you had a chance to go? And how would you style it? “Pairs of double clips. They are so chic yet not many people wear them.” Sandra was wearing a pair of Art Deco Diamond Double Clips. The clips are set with round diamonds and baguette cut diamonds. Can be worn as a brooch or separately as clips. Mounted in platinum. American, circa 1930. Rooted in utility and elevated to artistry, brooches have traced the arc of human history. From Bronze Age pins to Celtic fibulae, Victorian mourning jewels, and flamboyant Belle Époque aigrettes, the brooch has always bridged fashion and function, status and sentiment. Now, after decades in the background, brooches are making a bold return—gracing red carpets, runways, and museum exhibitions alike, including the recently opened Cartier show at the V&A in London. The exhibition explores Cartier’s legacy as a jeweller to royalty and icons, placing special emphasis on its innovative designs and enduring influence. One of the show’s highlights is the legendary Tutti Frutti double clips and matching bracelet— a favourite of vintage jewellery specialist Sandra Cronan, who admires its creativity and innovation, particularly the bold use of contrasting coloured stones, which was groundbreaking at the time. Nowhere was this more evident than at the 2025 Met Gala, where brooches adorned necklines, lapels, and even hairstyles of all the invited celebrities and VIPs. This revival is not just nostalgic—it’s political, personal, and highly visual. Aligned with the gala's theme, brooches acted as tools of self-expression, connecting with the tradition of Black Dandyism: the use of dress as an act of identity, and cultural pride. This social and fashion movement evolved as a powerful form of resistance in the 18th century when black men adopted refined European dress to challenge racist stereotypes and assert dignity, intellect, and individuality. It gained particular momentum in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, when Harlem became a vibrant epicenter of Black intellectual and artistic life, and style became a visual assertion of cultural pride and autonomy. Over time, it has influenced global fashion by introducing bold tailoring, rich textures, and a redefinition of elegance rooted in cultural pride and political defiance.  Details of Sandra's outfit. What are your thoughts on this year’s Met Gala theme, and how would you comment on the attendees’ styling in relation to it? "Black dandyism is a great theme because there are so many examples of stylish black men in the past: Sammie Davis Junior, Harry Bellafonte just to name two. On the red carpet we’ve seen modern versions of it, which is interesting because it means it is evolving, it’s alive and thriving. We especially loved celebrities wearing jewellery in untraditional ways – Zendaya's Victorian Diamond Serpent Brooch from 1850s on the back of the jacket, Khaby Lame wearing multiple watches on his vest, many brooches together on the lapels, brooches on the hats!" Left: A New Orleans 'black dandy' character from Mrs. Houstoun’s Yachting in the New World 1844. Public Domain. Right: Sandra Cronan's interpretation of this year’s theme.  Brooches seem to be making a stylish comeback—what do you think is driving their renewed popularity in contemporary fashion? “Brooches are making a comeback especially thanks to men. They are wearing them in a very stylish way and they all look super confident, which is great! They are also versatile: you can wear them in different ways, as we’ve seen on the red carpet on Monday night, and on different occasions, on dressy outfits but also on more relaxed/daily fits.” What was your favourite brooch and styling on MET Gala this year? “Lewis Hamilton looked great with his brooch on the lapel and on the hat, many rings and cufflinks. I liked the extravagance of it, but everything fit together perfectly. Rihanna was amazing as well, with her double clips on the collar!” Today’s red carpet jewellery trends reflect a broader shift toward slow fashion—where individuality, craftsmanship, and narrative take precedence over mass-produced sparkle. While modern jewellery houses like Van Cleef & Arpels, Graff, and Hemmerle continue to dazzle with their technical brilliance, an increasing number of stylists are turning to vintage and archival pieces to make a statement. This return to the roots of fashion was clearly visible in the styling at this year’s Met Gala, especially in Sarah Snook's look, who wore, among others, a Diamond Cascade Brooch from the 1950s and a Victorian Diamond Brooch from the 1890s.  With the Met Gala just behind us, what kinds of vintage jewellery trends—brooches included—stood out to you most this year? "Diamond necklaces for sure, but also fun shapes especially in brooches: flowers, animals, hearts. Also big colourful stones, like aquamarines, emeralds, etcs. In general, it looks like people want to have fun with jewellery!" Can you share a memorable brooch from your collection and tell us what makes it special, either historically or stylistically? “The Green Tourmaline & Diamond Brooch by Cartier, which has both an amazing design and a special story. It’s called “escalator” style and the term refers to the brooch’s stepped design, which mimics the upwards movement of escalators, invented at the beginning of the 20th century. Its geometric style reflects the rational aesthetic of Art Deco, and it is enhanced by the contrast between green tourmalines and diamonds. It is a set with square baguette cut green tourmalines and diamonds and can be separated to be worn as a pair of dress clips. Made circa 1940 in America from 18ct yellow gold.” Cartier, A Green Tourmaline and Diamond Brooch. Mounted in 18ct yellow gold. American, circa 1940. While traditionally associated with women’s dress, brooches are finding their way into modern menswear. Paired with silk suiting or minimalist tailoring, they add dimension and intention to a look. This year's Met Gala proved that brooches—can be just as powerful as a tiara, if not more so.

by Catherine Milner, Treasure House Fair Editor As Simon Phillips sits in his Bruton Street office in Mayfair, where he has worked for over 40 years, he reflects on the changes in the furniture business since he first entered it—just two weeks after his 18th birthday. “In those days, furniture dealers were everywhere,” he says, effortlessly listing half a dozen in Mayfair alone—Mallett, Partridge—all of which have since disappeared, along with several others down the Fulham Road and King’s Road. Now, like a magnificent lone tree, his storefront window on Bruton Street gleams with golden mirrors, polished mahogany cabinets, and damask-upholstered chairs—a cabinet of exquisite treasures inviting one into another world. Thread through the gallery past a carved wood console table once owned by John Paul Getty, a Chippendale writing desk, and a pedestal from Newby Hall, and you’ll find Simon’s office tucked discreetly at the back. Sitting behind a large desk adorned with family photos and a picture of himself being hugged by a chimpanzee, it is clear he leads a fulfilling life. “I still love living with these things,” he says, gesturing toward an 18th-century mirror behind him—the one piece he insists he will never sell. “Matthew Boulton is still popular,” he adds, pointing to a pair of candle vases—ingeniously designed vases whose tops can be reversed so that they can hold candles. Simon in his office.  The first items Phillips remembers selling were two pillar dining tables. When he started, his father, Ronald Phillips, employed just one restorer and primarily traded within the trade. “Now, I employ 15 staff—two restorers, two upholsterers, gilders, van drivers, researchers etc,” says Simon. Ronald remains actively engaged with the company, albeit from his bed in his retirement home. “He’s still very interested,” Simon notes, “mainly in whether pieces he sold have come back on the market. We have one mirror in the loo that he sold in 1965!” But Simon is more than a custodian of fine objects; he is also a steward of the craft skills that originally created them. In the basement of his gallery is a large workshop, where pieces are not only restored to their former glory but meticulously researched, ensuring a depth of knowledge rarely found outside a museum. While the internet has expanded the antique furniture market, it has also disrupted it. “In the old days, an interesting piece would sell in a Yorkshire saleroom, and it would change hands five times with every dealer making a profit before reaching London and then a private client,” Simon explains. “Now, that’s all gone.” Today, he sells only the finest and rarest examples, catering to a discerning clientele who are more knowledgeable than ever and advised. Many of his pieces are distinguished as much by their provenance as by their craftsmanship. He is currently offering a Carlton House writing desk once owned by Mark Birley, founder of Mark’s Club and Annabel’s, and another previously belonging to actor Sir John Mills. Other works are identified by the stately home from whence they originated. A George III giltwood mirror from the White Drawing Room at Harewood House by Thomas Chippendale, is a prime example. Adorned with garlands of gilded wooden flowers cascading down either side of a round looking glass, it rests on two golden sphinx candleholders and is crowned by a cameo of a woman framed by fluttering ribbons. The Harewood House Mirror, English, circa 1780 The finesse of the woodcarving in such pieces would be almost impossible to replicate today—even with AI. Perhaps especially with AI. Their effortless flow and faultless execution embody an instinctual level of aesthetic judgment at every turn. Lacquer cabinets remain popular, says Phillips, and Chinese mirror paintings equally so, although possibly not now after Trump's new tariffs.  Particularly important are a pair of George II ormolu mounted Chinese lacquer commodes attributed to Pierre Langlois that once belonged to Lord Ashburnham, Master of the Great Wardrobe to King George II. “Mirrors are our biggest market, tripod tables and globes are very sought after too,” says Phillips. “I always try to stock a bit of everything.” His clientele, he observes, are the kind who appreciate rather than repudiate the patina on a mahogany dining table—the marks left by centuries of use. Many of his buyers are American, a market where it is increasingly difficult to find antique furniture that has not been stripped of its original finish. Phillips is not optimistic that his children will take over the family business. Yet his son is about to complete a university dissertation on cabinets of curiosities—objects that are seeing a resurgence in modern interiors and museum exhibitions. For a generation raised in a world of mass production and algorithm-driven content, the desire for individuality has sparked renewed interest in aesthetics and historical oddities, so perhaps the long-term outlook is not so bleak after all. Photos by Michalina Franasik

By Mary Miers, a hugely experienced writer on art and architecture, and a former Fine Arts Editor of Country Life. It’s difficult to imagine Edward Barnsley in the cosmopolitan milieu of the Treasure House Fair. The Arts-and-Crafts furniture maker would have been astonished to see his workshop’s unpretentious contemporary pieces cutting a dash amidst the stands of Old Masters and antiques, attracting on-the-spot sales in a Chelsea pavilion humming with collectors and connoisseurs. His successor, the designer-craftsman James Ryan, who now runs the company, admits that he was hesitant when he first took the Barnsley Workshop to a London fair (Olympia in 2010). ‘I felt it wasn’t our world. We’re different from the other exhibitors in that we’re both the craftsman and the seller. Yet we did so well at Masterpiece and Treasure House, had such wonderful support from fellow stall-holders and discovered a new audience. It gave us a platform for doing speculative designs. It changed our model.’  James Ryan Image courtesy of Barnsley Workshop The success is testament to the continuing relevance—indeed growing appeal—of the Arts-and-Crafts principles that underpin the Barnsley Workshop, which has been making furniture from the same premises near Petersfield for over a century. Since joining as an apprentice in 1992, Ryan has evolved the distinctive Barnsley style, creating furniture that is innovative yet restrained, contemporary in feel yet very much in the English tradition in its respect for material—notably homegrown oak and walnut—and craftsmanship of superb quality. As manager, he’s also overseen a reorganisation of the workshop, with the restoration of its original timber-drying sheds and the construction of a new machine shop—a beautiful, barn-like structure of green oak and clay tiles.  Situated on a beech-hung ridge overlooking the South Downs, the workshop was established in the remote hamlet of Froxfield by the builder/furniture maker Geoffrey Lupton, who bought some land here in 1905 and built a cottage, timber sheds and workshop. In 1919, he took on Edward Barnsley, whose father and uncle, Sidney and Ernest Barnsley, together with Ernest Gimson, had set up in the Cotswolds in the 1890s and become the most influential Arts-and-Crafts furniture designers of their day. A former pupil at Bedales, Edward helped Lupton to build and later fit out the school’s new Gimson-designed library with furniture by his father Sidney. In 1923, he took over the business from Lupton. Edward Barnsley lived a modest, rustic life here at Froxfield, working hard as a craft furniture maker while his wife Tania kept the books. He had been brought up to appreciate the beauty of handmade things and succumbed only reluctantly to automated tools once electricity and mains water arrived in the 1950s. Having extended the premises to accommodate machinery, he soon realised that, rather than being detrimental to good work, machines banished the drudgery and made the whole process quicker, allowing more time for the specialist detail. Though still rooted in Arts-and-Crafts principles, he began to experiment with laminated construction and exotic hardwoods, and to indulge his interest in 18th-century designers such as Sheraton and Heppelwhite. His furniture became more refined and curvaceous, with bow-fronted chests of drawers and serpentine cabinets with reeded inlay. The Jubilee Cabinet of 1977 encapsulates Barnsley’s later style, a piece that took his craftsmen more than 900 hours to make and can still be admired in the workshop. By the late 1970s, it was clear that the only way to secure the workshop’s future was to make it an educational trust, and so, in 1980, the Edward Barnsley Trust was formed. After his death in 1987, Barnsley’s architect son Jon, together with his daughter Karin and widow Tania, navigated the business through a tough period, but they remained committed to training young talent, proud to number among former apprentices the great British furniture designer Alan Peters. Ryan credits the workshop with giving him opportunities he’d never otherwise have had. ‘There are a quite a few places in Britain where you can get a really good training—if you can afford it. After I’d done a City and Guilds furniture making course at Highbury Technical College in Portsmouth, I wanted to study at John Makepeace’s Parnham College and applied for an application form, but they wouldn’t send me one unless I signed a letter confirming that I had £25,000. I was 19.’ By contrast, the Barnsley Workshop, where he trained from 1992-97, paid Ryan to develop his skills—'not a lot, but it meant I could afford to come here. I had no formal design training, but my experience in the workshop, first as an apprentice-employee and then as a craftsman, allowed me to think about design, function and production and I was lucky enough to be in the right place to take over responsibility for design in 2001, when Jon retired.’  James Ryan at work Image courtesy of Barnsley Workshop It's the workshop’s dual role that makes it so special. ‘We’re a commercial operation, but we’re also committed to providing opportunities for young people, helping them to maximise their potential,’ Ryan explains. ‘Many have no idea about the work ethic, what joining a team of crafts people involves, so there’s a cultural benefit, too. The cost to us in time and expense is high; if we were solely commercial, we wouldn’t be taking them on to train them the way we do.  The hope is that, after doing the one-year foundation apprenticeship, they’ll want to do a second—and third—year, and that we’ll be able to offer this and then ideally continue to employ them as a craftsperson. We try to mitigate the dropout rate through the selection process by taking on people who have already got experience of furniture making, often a two-year technical qualification from college. Happily, most of the people we’ve trained over the past 45 years are still involved in furniture making in some way. There’s no alchemy here; part of the reason we have such a good outcome is that those we take on have already demonstrated a commitment to making furniture and have the humility to acknowledge that there are still things they can’t do that they want to, and that we can offer them the specialist skills to get there.’ Despite the demise of so many Further Education courses, some good ones in furniture making have survived—Ryan singles out Moulton College in Northampton, the Building Crafts College in Stratford, East London (supported by the Carpenters’ Company) and Rycotewood College in Thame, adding that there’s also been an uptick in private course providers since Covid. But what opportunities are there for graduates from these courses?  ‘Things have improved on that front,’ he suggests. ‘With the recent dearth of skilled craftsmen coming from abroad, many firms are now going full circle and reinstating training programmes’.  The Barnsley Workshop—one of the few that has remained committed to offering apprenticeships since it was founded—currently has four apprentices and is keen to attract more women, having only had two so far, plus a female intern this year. They work alongside craftsman Andrew Marsh and craftsman-tutor Stephen Rock, both former apprentices. Ryan does all the design work, but ‘it’s their hands that are making the pieces,’ he says; ‘that’s the way they learn. I’m there every day working with them, discussing how I want something made, what joints we’re going to use. We work with machines, of course, but everything a machine does, an apprentice also learns to do by hand, so they can produce a fantastic piece in a well-equipped workshop using digital CNC equipment and the same piece in a shed with no automated tools. They’re making high-quality, sellable furniture with the Barnsley stamp while also getting valuable employment experience with all the pressures of clients’ expectations, deadlines and suchlike that come with it. This makes them eminently employable and sought after.’ Refined detail, the use of inlays, chamfers and softly curving planes are the Barnsley hallmarks.  ‘Edward was all about trying to make things flow, the silhouette and the shape,’ says Ryan, who acknowledges the influence of his predecessor on his own designs. ‘Curves are my thing; that’s where I’m taking the Barnsley inspiration. If anything, I’m making it more organic,’ he says, referencing his hand-shaped Repose Rocking Chair. ‘One of the things I’m proud of is its texture. It’s made of oak, bleached and limed to give it this lovely white cast, and because we’re working with solid wood, we can get in there with a carving chisel and create this texture. The spontaneity of the hand-carving produces the opposite effect to the highly polished, lacquered veneers so beloved of the super-yacht elite. Pieces like this have their own personality.’ Aspire III Library Steps Image courtesy of Barnsley Workshop The success of the first rocking chair at Masterpiece in 2014 identified a need for more pieces that people could buy off-the-peg. This prompted a change of emphasis in the workshop’s output, which, until then, had been largely private commissions. Ryan has now produced six versions of the chair in limited editions. He’s also developed several iterations of his perennially popular library steps, a beautiful sculptural piece resembling a ship’s prow. For the latest version, he collaborated with Bill Amberg and had the steps covered in Tuscan hide as a softer alternative to polished walnut. The fair also provides a platform for showcasing commissioned pieces, which has demonstrated the versatility of Ryan’s designs. An inlaid oval dining table made from a Sussex walnut tree inspired new clients to commission a smaller version for their flat. The Grace Chair, originally part of a set of dining table and chairs for a private house, has proved revelatory with its deeply curved, leather-upholstered back. ‘Instead of relying on photographs and descriptions, visitors to the fair can sit on it and experience a level of comfort they’d never associate with a wooden chair; we’ve received lots of orders.’ The workshop sources most of its timber from around the UK. Oak is a favourite—two oak trees cut from a mile down the road in 2022 are quietly drying in the shed—together with walnut. The size of a walnut tree is significant as its sapwood often isn’t used and the heartwood is small by comparison. Ryan’s burr oak dining table is a Barnsley Workshop star, its top made from a spectacular single board cut from a tree that provided enough wood to make several versions. A single piece of Scottish walnut provided the material for a desk that incorporates motorised lifting columns so that it can be used standing up or sitting down. ‘The dynamic of the workshop is that we’re reacting to the way people live today,’ Ryan says. Given its success among the crème de la crème of the London art world, he’s justly proud of its reputation as ‘the Saatchi and Saatchi of furniture workshops.’ www.barnsley-furniture.co.uk enquiries@barnsley-furniture.co.uk 01730 827 233 Next Workshop Open Day – 11 October, 2025