shaking off an elite association with crumbling country manors, aglow with groaning tiers of crystals. ‘The variety of style reflects the variety of customers,’ Dorian makes clear. ‘We cater for private collectors with traditional houses, interior designers with eclectic taste and more and more young couples with very contemporary taste. In fact, half of the chandeliers we sell go to private houses with modern interiors. ‘There is definitely a place for a chandelier in a contemporary home,’ Dorian affirms when I enquire as to why a seemingly outdated light form has such an enduring appeal. ‘A contemporary interior can sometimes feel impersonal without some form of dialogue with the past. We sometimes work on chandeliers; we strip them off, polish them and silver plate them and they become totally new items, with new personalities. They become even more compatible, as it were, with the contemporary look.’ And nobody can deny that the chandeliers on display at Matthew Upham Antiques are lacking in personality. A bland, stark interiors showroom this is not, and it’s all the better for it. The space teems with the things, hanging from every speck of ceiling space, which once fired up, collectively illuminate the room with refracted light. Dorian’s
‘Fine examples of the earliest types of chandeliers dressed with rock crystal are joined by later led-infused crystal creations, whose glass beads emit an iridescent greyish purple tinge’ profuse apology that the shop looks bare (Matthew has taken fifteen chandeliers off to Devon to try them for size and style in a client’s home) is laughable. So much so, I wonder how customers settle on one single chandelier, given the choice. ‘Some people prefer to pop in and browse by themselves; others come in to seek advice. When that is the case, we chat about the house, the effect wanted, the existing furniture. We mix our experience with the client’s taste until together we can find something that is really appropriate for the room,’ so I’m informed. The
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duo even occasionally offers to put them up in situ, which explains the road trip to Devon. Dorian insists that there is a chandelier for every type of home – even a modest studio flat. And with prices starting from £850 up to several thousand for the chandeliers, lanterns from £400 or more modest but by no means less beautiful wall lights from £250, the decorative lighting of palaces is now within the grasp of the London homeowner. The most ostentatious pieces are being snapped up by Arab and Russian customers and also the American market, gradually returning after the financial problems of recent years. (The best French antiques are all in America, Dorian tells me.) As for the practicalities involved in transporting and putting up such a cumbersome and delicate light fitting, banish all thoughts of an Only Fools and Horses chandelier style debacle. (Remember that classic episode where Del Boy and Rodney watch a chandelier in the country mansion at which they are cleaning smash to smithereens, their old sheet and ladder proving of little aid?) The experts (Matthew Upham Antiques) have it all under control. Most of the pieces on display can be wrapped up and transported in crates, whilst some others must be dismantled and re-assembled on site. Matthew and Dorian also put clients in touch with electricians who have experience working with such fine and fragile pieces. Dorian points out a pair of brass-mounted solid rock crystal candlesticks and explains how the rock would have been formed over thousands of years; it feels as though this man would never tire of showing people around the treasure trove. ‘That is the beauty of antique chandeliers,’ he enthuses. ‘They can give a wow effect, a romantic feel or make a formal statement in any interior setting, depending on how they are chosen.’ They’d also make a fine gift, I muse. The day I have three sparse rooms and three thousand pounds to dedicate to the electrification of my life I know where to go, as I’m sure that – with Matthew and Dorian at the helm – choosing the right sparkler would be a total pleasure. Not to mention the charming daily presence of such beautiful articles in the home. 584 King’s Road, 020 7731 4444 www.matthewupham.com
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