places Kieran and Amanda Mathewson are the new generation of dealers that run their business from home. We find out how that works, and how they started out on their adventure that has become River and Jones... PHOTOGRAPHER: Cameron Mundell (www.cameronmundell.co.uk) ALMOST 12 YEARS AGO, as a young man, Kieran Mathewson started up his antiques business. He took inspiration from everything he loved about life, his childhood adventures in Africa and his rural life in England. He began by buying interesting items that reflected his personality, and it soon became apparent that others were drawn to these items too! Selling them on with the help of his childhood sweetheart, business partner and wife, Amanda, they were soon providing a modest living for their young family. As time went by, the business grew, as did the family, and today, little has changed. The family still run their business from their beautiful home in the countryside, enjoy family life, whilst still finding time to go on buying trips to far flung places... for them, life continues to be one big adventure!
TWO’S COMPANY ve Is everything in your lovely home ‘for sale’ or is there something within these pages that you just couldn’t bear to part with? Everything in the house is for sale apart from the Antonin Petrof piano, which is an antique from 1901. We bought it for one of our sons for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. He is a great little musician and I can see him definitely growing old with it!
ve Is there an item you have sold that you wish you’d kept and if so, what was it and why? This is a very good question, and also one of the only things Amanda and I don’t quite see eye to eye on. I would happily keep everything if I could, I buy things I’m drawn to and enjoy, and when we sell something I often get that ‘I should have kept that’ feeling. Amanda on the other hand is ruthless, she’s practical and thinks with a business head on, everything has a price. Having her around keeps us in business! There is something I sold recently that I genuinely struggled to part with. It was a stunning 17th century hand carved wooden Corpus still on its original cross and base. The colour and patina was just incredible, flaking black and white paint that had cracked and worn away over the years. It was just a beautiful thing, steeped in history. The 1961 Triumph Tiger Cub motorcycle was pretty sexy too... I could go on. The one thing Amanda was sad to see go was a large old Spanish Amphora, we picked it up in Spain and getting it back was a bit tricky. Amanda stuck it straight in the house and I was convinced she was going to keep it... it eventually went to a good client in LA... but Amanda still talks about it! 28 / December-January 2018 / ve
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