WHEN art dealer and Treasure House Fair co-founder Thomas Woodham-Smith first bought the low, black Formica coffee table that now faces his desk from across the sitting room, it was an ‘optimistic purchase’, rather than the find of a lifetime. Ask him about it now, however, and he admits: ‘I could never sell that table.’
It was a years-long relationship that turned the Formica piece into a personal treasure—one whose seeds were sown well before Mr Woodham-Smith had even set eyes on the table. ‘Many years ago, when I was a director of [art and antiques dealers] Mallett, I bought a pair of end tables attributed to [Italian designer] Willy Rizzo,’ he explains. ‘I thought they were very cool, being glass and chrome.’
‘Ask him about it
