THE CABINET ROOMS!

Messrs Philip Thomas and Christian Quinlan, two London furniture dealers, have founded The Cabinet Rooms, a new auction house with a physical and virtual presence. Their aim is to create a modern auction event that will simultaneously revitalise the dusty world of salerooms and breathe some life and style into the furniture market.

The main attraction of their approach is that prices are set to start rather lower than might be expected, because The Cabinet Rooms has no permanent premises and lower overheads as a result. Thanks to this nomadic nature, sales will be held in a variety of interesting spaces around London, the first of which is a former postal sorting office in Notting Hill, as well as running online. 

Other innovations that are intended to bring the auction experience up to date include a café designed by renowned reclamation and design company Retrouvius and operated by Prufrock, one of London's best-regarded coffee shops; flowers by the famous florists, wild at heart; cocktails by artisanal spirit brand Sipsmith; and a bookshop run by Mr Don Kelly, a dealer in art reference books. "I was inspired by an auction I went to in Copenhagen about 20 years ago," explains Mr Thomas. "It was in Christiania, and there was a great Scandinavian buffet, space for people to sit and talk and a pop-up design bookstore. It was full of families and there was a relaxed atmosphere. It was totally unlike a traditional British auction house." 

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