Home Interiors: The top vintage and classic design buys for 2025

Geoff shares his top choices and advice on what's warming the market for 2025, starting with a tip he gave us last year that has proved to be spot on.

Prices for John ffrench ceramics have continued to rise dramatically and will reach new heights in 2025”. Kirk appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow filmed in Derry last March, with two bird-shaped candle holders and a trivet by the renowned ceramists, regarded as the founding father of studio pottery here in Ireland. 

ffrench trained at the National College of Art and Design and the Istituto Statale D'Arte in Florence, establishing an international reputation for his imaginative pieces and bold use of colour. Writer Flann O’Brien famously described ffrench’s small pots as “tortured ashtrays”. 

Kirk felt that the specialist valuation at the AR, was somewhat conservative at €278 for the birds, as hammer prices are climbing at auctions here at home. The Kenny Gallery showed sixty pieces of ffrench’s work in Galway over the summer. 

This year also saw Arklow Studio Pottery (1935-1998) achieve €1,188 at Mitchells Home & Garden Auctions in the UK, with a box of six rare beakers and a cracked jug bought back by a collector in County Wexford. Could you already have something at home from the Studio? Geoff points out, that interest in Arklow wares and ffrench’s talent will be further stirred in the New Year “as there’s a new book being released and a proposed exhibition in National Museum Collins Barracks in preparation".

Dutch mid-century design is also gathering speed according to Kirk. “The Dutch have always been known for stylish lighting — especially by Louis Kalff," he says.

You might think you don’t know his work, but chances are you’ve seen plenty of it by Philips, and Kalff (1897-1976) designed the iconic Z-lamp that sat on tens of thousands of corporate desks. Sleek, somewhat sci-fi, you can find examples of his work without tarnishing or dents from around €250 to over €2,000 on the vintage online market. Kirk adds: “What’s harder to find are furniture classics from the Netherlands including work by Gerrit Rietveld (influenced by the De Stijl art movement and known for his Crate designs and avant-garde Zig-Zag chair), Cees Braackman (present in the US for a time and heavily influenced by Charles Eames), and the fantastic curved shelf units by Willem Lutjens for Gouda de Boer. These pieces are now being snapped up by dealers and collectors alike."

Look out for stunning chests, consoles, chairs and desks from these gilded geniuses from trusted 20th-century specialists including Geoff. If you’re looking for something specific, they may be able to track a design for you on their regular buying trips around Europe.

Turning his attention to Italy, Geoff advises us to look out for Memphis Design Group pieces — ceramics, lights, furniture and fabric. "This was a relatively short-lived design movement, and consequently, original pieces are rare and hard to source. Still, they do hold their value and are well worth the hunt for their vibrant colours and strong design aesthetic," he says. 

What should you expect in Memphis Design style? It speaks of its time, conjured under Ettore Sottsass with a group of post-modernist designers who were jaded of typical mid-century styling and cream-coloured everything. Think art deco colliding with European pop art. It’s somewhat roundy, bright enough to sear the eyeballs out of your head, full of fun, with an influence far beyond its narrow dates. It’s said Memphis Design ignited on December 11, 1980, in Sottsass’ living room, while he and a group of his designer friends talked passionately while Bob Dylan’s record 'Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again' played in the background — hence the name. Prices for genuine, period pieces are stratospherically high, so take a look around to get a flavour of this exuberant look as it’s likely to be lighting up the high street in 2025.

Staying in Italy, Kirk advises, “There’s a surge in interest in Italian ceramics from the 1950s and 1960s — particularly Bitossi, Fantoni, Fornasetti and San Marino. These offer bright Mediterranean colours and rich designs. If you’re interested, get the book 'All Moda: Italian Ceramics of the 1950s-1970s' to identify pieces by smaller artisan potters." This publication retails at €42 from various suppliers including markhillpublishing.com. Keep your eyes open at flea markets on your European travels next year. What is termed "smalls" can often come home wrapped and nestled in your luggage. Much better buys than most souvenir tat.

Closer to home, Kirk has a key recommendation for investing in vintage English furniture and fabrics. “Mid-century pieces by Robin and Lucienne Day are hot. Starting with the industrial and interior designer Robin Day (1915-2010), furniture sideboards from the S-range, his chairs with beautiful bentwood backs, and Day’s futuristic easy-chairs are the ones to look out for. There’s a growing enthusiasm for classic Lucienne Day fabrics, and renewed interest in her hand-crafted Silk Mosaics following a recent show by Margaret Howell in London," he says.

Lucienne Day (1917-2010), who married Robin Day in 1942 and lived among the artsy Chelsea set, remains an iconic figure in British interior and fashion design, distinct from her brilliant husband with his airy, angular furnishings. 

Chances are you will have spent some time swinging your rosy, infant legs from a Hille & Co, propylene side chair designed by Robin Day (1964). These morphed into various functional, comfy forms, and with their signature back-friendly bounce, were littered around every college and airport in Ireland for decades. 

The side chair was the very first mass-produced injection-moulded polypropylene shell chair in the world. The work of both Lucienne and Robin encapsulates a postwar drive and optimism that’s lasted the course, and their best pieces for Hille & Co, Heals and John Lewis are much loved, highly desirable and therefore very pricey. 

Small teak sideboards come in around €2,500, but you will certainly find Danish storage pieces with the same look for half that number if you can do without the name. Vintage licensed editions have been released down the decades too but are less valuable buys. His lovely Daystak RD1 side chair in steam-bent beech and walnut is available new from about €492 from various outlets, with Daystak desks from €1500 depending on design from &Tradition (previously Unique Copenhagen). Try finnishdesignshop.com for a peek.