That’s what I thought when I went to this year’s Ideal Home Show at Earl’s Court earlier this year. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of wonderful artwork on display there. They came in all shapes, forms, media, and sizes and if you didn’t mind sharp, you could’ve been overwhelmed by it all. I know I nearly was!
If you haven’t been before, where’ve you been?! Lol. Back in the day, when I was a “nipper” it used to be called “The Ideal Home Exhibiton”, but for some reason, (I know not what), it’s now calling itself “The Ideal Home Show”. What difference it makes to the whole thing, I haven’t got a clue, all I know is that my first experience of this phenomena was during my school years as a teenager. I remember not having enough money to buy anything I wanted and that I wanted to return when I did.
Well quite a few moons went by, things happened and I forgot all about it until I reached adulthood and had my son. As a young mother, you find yourself watching a lot of “daytime tv”. As a result, every year, Richard & Judy would remind me that it was back in town, but my money had other priorities then. I’d also forgotten that it was a SPRING event that only lasted for two weeks. Long story short, a friend mentioned it to me last year. Finally I had the time, the finance, and the timing all in alignment. We went with her two younger daughters. It was like my school years all over again.
We went from stall to stall and floor to floor looking at as much as we could in the four hours we had alloted to us. We even checked out a couple of houses (yes, I said houses, the venue is HUGE! Lol). I bought some wonderful shawls at ridiculously cheap prices. I even had a free massage… Bliss….
This year, I took two friends who’d never been before. It was like letting children loose in a candy store! Again, we purused as many of the stalls as we could. My female friend and I had our eyebrows done, we both had two massages from two different vendors, and we “oooh’d” and “ahhh’d” at lots of wonderful stall displays and their various wares. My male friend had found an excellent stall offering free tasters to tempt customers into buying their magnificeng juicer. We left that stall after his third sample of the smoothie and soup lol. He’s so cheeky! By the way, we all want that juicer – even at £500 a ‘pop’, lol.
But for me, the pictures spoke volumes. Particularly one artist’s works. I really wish that I had paid attention to their name. (Yeah, I know, I’m crap like that, sorry). Anyways, what struck me about ghor work was that every picture was made up of hundreds of other pictures. Collages and mosaics always caught my attention from childhood. Being able to visualise the end result whilst looking at all those individual images takes a very adept eye and brain. My favourites were definitely the Ganesh and Buddha images. You can see some of the items in the gallery and flipbooks.
If you get the opportunity to attend the show, please take it. You won’t regret it. It’s perfect for all members of the family. They have facilities for disabilities and elderly. Staff are also very pleasant and helpful if you need assistance with anything. The lifts are beautiful and staffed by competent people. There is an entrance fee. Thursday nights are usually late night night and reduced entry fee. Please check the site nearer the date for more details. It’s held every March.
I plan to return again next year. Here’s hoping it can be as a vendor, rather than a “punter” this time, eh? Who knows..? Fingers crossed…
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