\u2018My mother loved Georgian furniture<\/a>, Victorian animal paintings, barometers, and she had an amazing collection of Mauchline and tartanware<\/a>. Writing slopes and workboxes were other passions \u2013 there were pyramids of them all over the house. Meanwhile, my grandmother collected beer steins and lidded tankards,\u2019 he recalls.<\/p>\n The family lived near Bakewell, Derbyshire, and their antiques-hunting trips radiated out to encompass Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby and the Peaks. \u2018I thought this was a lot more fun than sitting at home with my grandad, so I piled into the car with them and off we\u2019d go.\u2019<\/p>\n At his mother\u2019s suggestion, young Will started to collect silver-backed prayer books, which then (in the early 1970s) could be bought for under a pound. Many were decorated with a design adapted from a famous Joshua Reynolds painting of cherubs\u2019 heads. They led Will on to other silver objects decorated with cherubs, before he turned his attention to Steiff bears.<\/p>\n Then came a turning point: hidden in his grandmother\u2019s sideboard, Will discovered a wonderful Art Deco<\/a> Shelley coffee service, and a passion that was to found his collecting and working life was sparked.<\/p>\n At Newark Antiques Fair, on one of many trips (signed off with sick notes from his mother), 11-year-old Will came across a stall belonging to a dealer called Beverley. There, he encountered shelves full of Clarice Cliff\u2019s vibrant Art Deco wares and instantly fell in love with them. \u2018Beverley was the grande dame of Deco,\u2019 says Will. \u2018I bombarded her with questions: \u201cWho? Where? Why? What?\u201d She could have swatted me away but, realising my limited funds, she started me collecting salt and peppers.\u2019<\/p>\n You might also like<\/strong> antiques fairs and auctions around the UK this month<\/a><\/p>\n By the age of 14, Will was travelling to London during the summer holidays to stay with Beverley, help in her shop, and view auctions at Christie\u2019s. \u2018I thought I was terribly important, holding my catalogue, making notes, hoping someone would talk to me.\u2019<\/p>\n Thanks to his knowledge of Art Deco and 20th-century ceramics, Will self-funded his way through university in Birmingham, where he studied silversmithing and jewellery making. \u2018When everyone else was nursing hangovers on Sunday morning, I\u2019d be at car boot sales with my best friend Sally, buying and selling,\u2019 he laughs.<\/p>\n By the end of his course, he\u2019d decided that jewellery making and silversmithing weren\u2019t for him; dealing in antiques was the only career he wanted. \u2018My dad lent me \u00a35,000 to get started, but within a year I was struggling. \u201cYou have the best collection and the worst stock; don\u2019t ever deal in what you collect\u201d my dad said.\u2019<\/p>\n It was at this low point that a friend suggested auctioneering: \u2018I\u2019d get the joy of the objects, without the outlay,\u2019 explains Will. He listened and joined a local firm, remaining there for two years until Nick Davies, an auctioneer at a rival firm, offered him a job in a new saleroom he was opening.<\/p>\n Will joined, not as an employee but as a partner, and Fieldings opened its doors in Stourbridge in 2001. \u2018Twenty years on, we\u2019re still here. We\u2019ve made it our home and the town is proud of us; we are part of the community and do a lot for local charities.\u2019<\/p>\n Alongside his auctioneering business, Will\u2019s media career also burgeoned. \u2018I chatted to a friend who was a producer for the BBC\u2019s Inside Out about car booting and Clarice Cliff and we did a couple of programmes. Then Flog It! came to Fieldings, and I did the pieces to camera.\u2019 After that, Will was summoned to Bristol for a screen test and appeared on 20th Century Roadshow followed by Children\u2019s Roadshow, before joining the main team of Antiques Roadshow<\/a>.<\/p>\n You might also like<\/strong> behind the scenes of the Antiques Roadshow<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018I remember filming my first Antiques Roadshow. I was put on a table with David Battie, who was terrifying, and he said, \u201cAnd you are?\u201d. When I told him he replied, \u201cAre you any good?\u201d. I sat next to him, and we became great friends.\u2019 After 17 years on the expert team, Will still feels it\u2019s a huge privilege to be on the show. \u2018I love the joy and the excitement of discovering something, sharing my knowledge in an entertaining way, and being put on my metal.\u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At home, his passion for Art Deco hasn\u2019t waned and, although his taste has matured, Clarice Cliff remains a constant. \u2018It\u2019s what unlocked my passion, and there was a time when my bedroom was like a recreation of a Poirot set. It\u2019s not that now, but she\u2019s always been in my life. Our house is a mixture of modern British art, mid-century modern furniture<\/a>, Swedish, Italian and British studio glass, Fornasetti<\/a>, as well as Art Deco ceramics, Poole Pottery and contemporary studio work.\u2019<\/p>\n A recent high point in Will\u2019s life came when he was asked to be the historical advisor on The Colour Room, a film about Clarice Cliff. \u2018I helped with sourcing and vetting things and was given a cameo role. Then, in October, I attended my first premiere. It\u2019s a beautiful film and it made me reflect how I\u2019ve always been surrounded by strong female role models: Mum, Gran, Beverley and Clarice \u2013 they have driven and formed my career. I hope they would think I made the most of my opportunities, and now, thanks to the film, there will always be me, linked with Clarice and my world.\u2019<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Janet Gleeson Published: Sunday, 17 April 2022 at 12:00 am Not many five-year-olds have a passion for antiques but, thanks to his mother and grandmother, Will Farmer\u2019s fascination was ignited at an early age and has never been extinguished. The two energetic ladies were both avid antiques enthusiasts and toured local auction rooms and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10071,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far.jpg",1078,794,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far-300x221.jpg",300,221,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far-768x566.jpg",768,566,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far-1024x754.jpg",800,589,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far.jpg",1078,794,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/04\/antiques-roadshow-expert-will-farmer-chats-about-his-career-so-far.jpg",1078,794,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Janet Gleeson Published: Sunday, 17 April 2022 at 12:00 am Not many five-year-olds have a passion for antiques but, thanks to his mother and grandmother, Will Farmer\u2019s fascination was ignited at an early age and has never been extinguished. The two energetic ladies were both avid antiques enthusiasts and toured local auction rooms and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2022\/03\/il_1140xN.2850540018_27r8_preview-d392ba0.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C945"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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