Transcription
Rolls-Royce hood ornament. I guess everything is for sale at Portobello. I mean, I'm sorry for the person whose car this was stolen from, but Winged Victor, she's very beautiful, but I'm not going to buy her. I'm in London and I'm here looking for treasure. This city has the best vintage objects that are full of life and character that you can't find anywhere else. I have one day to shop here and I'm going to show you how I navigate some of London's biggest markets and how to style your space with vintage objects that you can take home in your suitcase.
First stop, Portobello Market. We're in Portobello Road in Notting Hill. Yes, that Notting Hill. It's London. It is the most visited market in the world. And as you can see, it's crazy. So, there are two kind of components to Portobello Road. There are the vendors that set themselves up in these cute little stalls on the street and then in the buildings on the ground level, there are arcades that have vendors that are here throughout the week. Some are open all week, some are not. Vendors on the street are only here on Saturdays. This is Admiral Vernon. It's my personal favorite place to shop on Portobello Road. Let's go take a look at what they have. It's so amazing. Damn, that lighter is insane.
One of the things I love about Portobello is you can find full sets of cutlery. Generally, you find like two forks or a knife and they're blunt. Here, you'll get a full set. And what I really like is you can look for fish sets. That's a fish knife. And the great thing about fish knives, they don't need to be sharp because fish is soft. So, you don't have to worry about resharpening things. All this needs to do is get polished up. The handles on this are so exquisite. That's a really good buy and something you'll actually be able to use. And it comes in a box in your carry-on. There's good stuff back here. I can sense it. If you're coming to Portobello, you are buying silver. This is an amazing place to come and buy wedding presents. This is not my idea. I stole it from somebody, but I think it's genius. Instead of going and signing up to that annoying registry where everything is new, come here, buy like a bunch of stuff, and give your friends vintage silver for their weddings. Amazing idea.
If you're at a market and you see a little teacup or a mug that you like, but there's only one, you're like, "What do I do with one mug?" What I like to do is create a like a line of pegs in a kitchen and hang mismatched mugs on every peg. And then when you're making coffee or tea in the morning, you can choose which cup you're going to use that day. The mismatchness of it all and the different colors can be very, very pretty. And check this out. Look how cute this is. It's like it's so fun because everything's a little different. I like that one. So that's going to be my espresso for today. Amazing stuff. Oh, jewelry. Art Nouveau glass. Underrated? Yes. Unexpected? Yes. But is it amazing? It's one of my favorite things. I think it's so beautiful. It's not trendy at all. In fact, I think it's almost like frowned upon, but for me, I think it's one of the most beautiful things you can find in the Portobello market. It's also probably the best stuff you'll find here. But if it reads a little flat, look what happens when you get light into it. Incredible. The craftsmanship is extraordinary. And the color is so amazing. If you could put that somewhere where there was light behind it, it's sort of mind-blowing. The top top top of the line stuff is stuff by Emil Gallé, who was one of the sort of pioneers of the movement. It's made by layering glass. First a shell and then something over the top and there are multiple colors. It's not for everybody and you don't really see it used that much, but it just takes one designer to get into something and then it becomes a trend. And just think about it as like an alternative to Lalique, which is cleaner, simpler, one color. This is the more maximalist version. And my favorite.
There's lots of good art in Portobello. So, the English take their walking sticks very seriously. You would think this is just an ordinary walking stick, but with a simple twist, you have a telescope that actually works. It's so exquisite. Seems pretty ordinary. So, it's a dormant stick. The top lights up. So the doorman from the hotel would walk out into the street and wave the stick. Top lights up to hail a cab. Very useful in New York City. So this one looks pretty nondescript, but look at that peeping tom stick. You use that to drill a hole into your neighbor's wall so you can check them out. The owner of this one, it looks like he's had it monogrammed or is that the maker's mark? E.J. Robinson. And so E.J. Robinson was a either a perve or the maker. I hope you didn't know E.J. Robinson in 1911 because he was like drilling holes in your wall.
>> To be clear, I'm not telling you to buy this. I'm just showing you that it exists.
>> Wow, look at that. You see these in movies, but yeah,
>> Be careful.
>> They are actually real. You can run someone through with that.
>> Be careful 'cause somebody walks past.
>> It's all right. I'm insured.
There's good stuff to be found everywhere. These cute. These are for salt on the table. Comes with this little spoon. Pick up your salt. Salt your meal. Get some hypertension, but do it in style. Overwhelming. Take a breath. Very loud and very busy. But I want to talk about the MVP of styling, which is bronze. Different styles from different countries. Japanese bronze is amazing. Same thing with Chinese. The Nordic countries do pretty good bronze as well. Like if you can find good Danish bronze, very clean, very crisp, super cold and edited. Also, you could turn an urn like that into a lamp pretty easily and it's a great look. Just another incredible bronze. Weighs like 150 lb. It's absolutely beautiful. I believe it would have been used as an incense burner. It's solid and weighs a ton. Great little fruit bowl or incredible as a planter indoors or outdoors because bronze is indestructible. It's very pretty. I hate crowds. So annoying. This is why you have to get here early is because it's like this all day on Saturday and Saturday is the only vintage day. Get here early. Like start at 9:00 so by noon you can be done. My watch is on LA time, by the way. So is my brain. I'm a little jet-lagged. Let's keep moving.
Okay, this is overwhelming. There are too many people. It's raining. It's cold. But I got another trick up my sleeve. There's a market nearby that we have to go and check out. It's called Alfie's. And it's indoors. This is Alfie's Market. It's London's largest indoor vintage market. It's packed with incredible antiques, art, and jewelry. And for me, it's an absolute must. Let's go see what we can find. Little lamps. These guys are my obsession. Why? Because you can use them absolutely everywhere. And I do. I think you've got to have as many light sources in a room as possible. So, these guys are kind of essential. They're small enough to go anywhere. They're particularly good on a bookshelf. But how do you light a lamp on a bookshelf? It's pretty easy. You can buy rechargeable light bulbs that work on a remote. They're fantastic. So, you can put these guys anywhere. And I particularly like them on bookshelves and on kitchen countertops or anywhere that there's a small space that you need to light. Okay?
Don't be intimidated by silver. I know it's intimidating because like if you didn't grow up with it, you think you can't afford it. It needs to be polished. It's a lot. I don't know what to do with the stuff. Just start collecting it. And even if you don't know what to do with it, you'll start inventing ideas. Like little ice buckets are one of my absolute favorite things. I think they're so versatile. There's so many good ones here. It's insane. But that's a gorgeous little thing. You can use silver in unexpected ways. Like really get creative. This is an old biscuit box, which is super civilized in and of itself, but I would use it on my coffee table to store remote controls. It's long enough that it'll actually fit them, and I don't like looking at remote controls. So, this is the perfect canister to hide a remote. It's so beautiful. I have to breathe. Okay, I have to breathe. This is great instead of a vase because it's so much more elevated. You could put just a clear glass vase on the inside of that and then pop your little flowers in it. It'll look so good. Great in a coffee table. Great in a nightstand 'cause it's smaller. Good in a powder room. But yeah, little ice buckets. Buy them. Look how cute this one is. That one's £25. This is coming home with me. Wow, that's loud.
This is where I'm probably going to lose you. But I don't like trash cans. I think they're generally pretty ugly. I like the idea of using a big ice bucket. Like consider that as your powder room trash can or in your office under your desk. I know it's crazy, but like that with paper in it instead of just like a plastic vessel. So much more civilized. This one's a little expensive. I think you can dig around and find one that's not quite as extravagant. But if you have a guest bedroom that is tucked under a nightstand as the trash can. So civilized. Oh, hello. Bargain table. £10 items. This is insane. This is a cover for a large box of matches. It's got a ship on it and some sad sailors. You know how my feelings on sad sailors. £10. It's coming home with me. I mean, look at the craftsmanship on that. All righty, moving on. Moving on. There's plenty to see. That's a monster.
Side tables. I've got a hard and fast rule that wherever you sit in your house, you have to have a small side table so you can put a drink down. It's essential. There's nothing worse than if you're a guest in someone's house and they hand you a drink and you have that sort of like awkward moment where you're like, I don't know. So, you just end up holding a cold, sweating glass. It's the worst. Always look for small side tables. You should be on the hunt for them every time you go vintage shopping because they are really essential to finishing a room. This is a particularly good one. It's Fontana Arte, so it's magic. You're not necessarily always going to find one as good as this, but if you can get it and look, small lamps on a console. I'm not wrong about this. I swear.
It is absolutely packed with art. It's totally overwhelming. I still get overwhelmed. I've been coming here for years. If you don't have an art collection and you don't know where to start, I suggest you start small and cheap where the stakes are low. Look for something that you really, really love, but keep it small enough to pop it in a suitcase. It's like this is a great little painting in a very beaten up frame. It's not important. It's not going to be super valuable, but it's got a lot of personality. I think something like that is a great way to start. I'm super into the fact that this the frame is all beaten up and crusty and a little dirty. I think that in an apartment that's super new is an amazing way to start. We live in apartments where it's white sheetrock walls, white cabinetry, bleached oak floors, everything is new. Nothing has any sort of texture. Nothing feels like it's been touched or handled. Something like this, it'll look amazing. And when you start to collect and you add like piece by piece slowly over time, you're going to build a really exciting fun collection.
The place just never ends. All of these Christmas ornaments are vintage and they are spectacular. Second row from the top is space race. The Americans never made an astronaut Christmas decoration, but the Soviets did. So he has a whole row of little cosmonauts. All kinds of different styles. Some are pretty ornate with their little faces painted on them. Did you know that you needed a Soviet cosmonaut on your Christmas tree? You do now. Miniatures. They're amazing. Before Instagram, this was the thirst trap. Bear with me. 16th century. You want to bag a man? This is how you do it. Photos didn't exist. So, if you wanted to get married, you had to have your likeness made so you could show people who you looked like. A polite, sweet little rosy-cheeked English lass was definitely going to get herself a hot rich lord because she was so cute. And they were also used for porn. They don't have any porny ones here. They're pretty polite. They were also hot for political affiliations. So, if you were part of the Napoleon party, you better make sure you carry your Napoleon miniature. If he's coming over for dinner and he's not in your cabinet, you I mean I think they would be amazing, especially in a contemporary house, buy a bunch of them and create a very pleasing arrangement on a wall. The trick is look at how they hang these in museums to get a good idea of a pretty way to arrange them 'cause they look incredible en masse. Wow.
And there's more great art. What caught my eye in this space is that painting of the fish and the fruit. I love fish paintings and it makes me think of a painting that I have on my kitchen counter. I bought it on vacation and I like buying paintings on vacation, smaller things that you can take with you because they're a great memento of your trip. It's so nice to like when I'm annoyed and cooking at home and don't feel like making dinner. That little painting makes me so happy. It's like, okay, it's a mood elevator. It's like a little dopamine hit. Takes you back on vacation. And uh this one is going to be my new dopamine hit for the day. I'm literally just going to take it off the wall. Yeah, that's too good. That's coming home with me.
>> This painting ended up in my hallway. It looks amazing over a little wicker cabinet that I bought in France and I'm absolutely obsessed with it.
>> By the way, the frame is amazing. Anybody? Do I just steal it?
London is my favorite place to shop. It really has the kinds of things that I love most. And everything that you find has a lot of personality, great craftsmanship, and tons of style. If you've only got a day, check out Portobello Market and Alfie's. I guarantee you, you'll find something great to take home with you. I can't I can't do it. His boots are heavy.