'The one antique I can't live without...'

Think of an empty house andimagine making it your own.In terms of furniture, art anddecorative objects, wherewould you begin? And whenit comes to antiques, what is the one piecethat the house must have above all else.What key antique piece makes a homeinteresting, comfortable and stylish?You might think of somethingpractical – a Knole sofa, say – or perhapsit’s one of the first antiques you everacquired that has moved with you fromhouse to house. Maybe it is a work of artthat will dictate your decorating scheme.Some of us have houses where almostthe entire contents date to pre-1900,while some of us blend old and newfurniture and art. But is there oneantique that every home should have?Most of the experts we interviewedagreed that this is a tricky questionwe’ve posed, especially if you are adedicated antiques aficionado. Some oftheir responses are perhaps unexpected,you may or may not agree with them –and you’ll certainly notice one item offurniture in particular rates highly.

I would have to choose a statement overmantelmirror. I find it’s the heart of the room and thefirst thing you set your eyes on when you walk in.It pulls everything together and I think antiquemantel mirrors can lend themselves well to manydifferent styles of interior. To style my mirror Ihave a pair of my handmade ceramic Venus shellsconces hanging either side. I think symmetry isimportant when it comes to striking mantelpieces,so I have my Romantic vases at each end and somecandlesticks and Staffordshire figurines.

The longer I live in my house the more antiques Iacquire and the more I think they are the key tomaking a house a home. I have antiques in everyroom, but the one piece I think you should alwaysinclude is a wingback armchair. It doesn’t matterhow battered it is when you buy it, you can alwayshave it repaired and reupholstered – that’s part ofthe joy. An antique wingback covered in modernfabric is perfect in a house of any period. Theyare angled nicely at the back – the rake – whichmakes them very comfortable. Also, I havea small sofa that belonged to my great grandmother,then it went to my mother (whore-covered it twice in 20 years) and now I havechanged it again. I wouldn’t part with itfor the world.

My wife Maria refuses to let us partwith a tapestry in our house – a mid20th-century French example fromAubusson. Tapestries are reallycoming back. Antique and vintagetextiles are very much the startingpoint when we work on the designof an interior. The colours in thetextiles can dictate the scheme ofthe room. And at antiques fairs andmarkets, you can find rugs, curtainsand clothing that not only have greatcolours you can work with, but alsotextures. I’m all about materialityand tactility in a home – the thingsand surfaces you touch.

An antique mirror should belongin every home, be it a small lookingglass, something ornate on thefireplace, or a giant mirroredscreen propped on the floor. I liketo think about how many storiesthat glass could tell – all the peopleand happenings it has reflectedback over the years. When I lefthome and began furnishing myown house for the first time, I tookan antique mirror with me as myonly real piece of interior treasure.Needless to say, that collectionhas grown, and I now have manymirrors full of secrets and stories.

For me, the essential antique is the one well-loved piece that has accompanied you for many years. If you removed from our home the items we call antiques, we would not be left with much – perhaps two chairs. Our house is filled with antiques, but the one our house could not be without is a small group of Byzantine clay bowls that were saved from a watery grave off an island in the Mediterranean. I brought them to the surface myself as a teenager many years ago. They were part of an entire cargo of similar bowls which, after the ship carrying them went down, sat on the bottom of the sea for 600-700 years. As they were in stacks, the inside of the bowls are surprisingly well preserved, their glazing still intact in parts and the simple engravings clear, as if made yesterday. It is difficult to identify a single antique object – the art of creating an interesting home is about layering and combining objects, and no single piece will be able to achieve this on its own.

Every home should have a good crystal vase. I’m not talking about the traditional pieces that were the mainstay of many producers over the years, but the design-led examples created with fantastic flair from the 1930s to the 1960s. This is something of an Achilles heel for me, as I am incorrigible when it comes to my obsession with them. I have dozens, but in my defence I do use them. I’ve long been a fan of 20th-century clear crystal glass, especially pieces made by the likes of Stevens & Williams, Webb Corbett and John Walsh Walsh, whose output through the 20th century was immense. The pieces created during the 1900s by designers such as Keith Murray, Irene Stevens (vase pictured left) and John Luxton are so simple and stylish, and with their clean lines they are as contemporary today as they were decades ago. They are also still out there to be found languishing in charity shops and antiques centres. Whether filled to the brim with cut flowers or grouped on a sideboard, they offer instant impact for little investment.

This is certainly a challenge as there is such a rich array of antiques to choose from. However, as a big reader, the one antique I personally think every home should have is a comfortable and elegant library armchair that would look good in almost any room, and that is easy to accommodate in any home or space. I think I would choose this early 19th-century Gillows bergère – it’s quite the library armchair.

I’d pick a bent ply room divider or screen by Ludvik Volak as I love the versatility of them. I use them in a lot of styling and own three myself. They are so versatile – you can have them against a wall or between rooms with plants on. Czech pieces have risen as fast as the price of gold in recent years, but thankfully Modern Shows co-founder Petra Curtis and I started stockpiling these room dividers early. They were designed as both a shelving system and divider, and we especially like the earlier 1950s version with finger-jointed round corners, although these can be hard to find. The later ones have square corners, some have feet that attach to both floor and ceiling, and I have even seen a Sixties mahogany-veneered version, which is rather lovely too. Lately, the screen that was originally dubbed claustra (which means cloister or barrier) has been having a comeback. You can have them either way up with curves facing up or down, make them look like doors each side of the centre of a room, or stagger them to divide up a large space. Create a mix of different textures by styling with plants, books, enamel bowls, candlesticks and ceramics.

For me, the antique every home should have is without doubt a Victorian Howard & Sons armchair. Not only are they good traditional antiques, but I think they transcend the decades and are permanently fashionable. Whether used as a comfy bedroom chair, or in pride of place in a drawing room, the wide plump seats and upholstered arms offer comfort while being effortlessly stylish. The company is synonymous with good quality and has been trading since the 1820s. Chairs, of course, can be updated with contemporary fabric, such as this one, which Lyon & Turnbull sold for £1,600.

The Windsor chair was, according to rumour, originally devised as a very upmarket garden chair in the early 1700s and gradually evolved into the country chair we now know. Its charm is in its comfort – it’s a forgiving chair made using English native hardwoods such as ash, elm, oak and beech that will fit into any scheme. It brings together all of the traditional country skills of the wheelwright, the bodger and the cabinetmaker. We make a bespoke version of the Windsor chair using the traditional techniques, and James Mursell of The Windsor Workshop and Jason Mosseri of Hope Springs Chairs run courses on Windsor chairmaking to keep these skills alive.