8 Holland Street shops - in Bath & London
‘8 Holland Street’ is the brand name of two fashionable interiors showrooms, one is located in Bath and the other in London. They curate and sell arty mid-century vintage home wares to the public and are a favourite among interior designers and interior decorators. The Bath shop is a natural progression from the fashionable 8 Holland Street shop in London, where WOOLF Interior & Design Interior Architecture have been sourcing interior accessories, furniture and artwork for some time. The two shops are exciting extensions of one another and operate much like the WOOLF studios with one based in Bath and the other one based in London. Explore WOOLF Residential Projects .
8 Holland Street is more of a gallery specializing in a mix of 20th-century European antiques, contemporary crafts, and housewares where ‘literally everything works together’.
At the gallery they have a great collection of European studio pottery which all have makers' marks, but are officially unidentified and they stock a beautiful selection of wooden hand-carved pieces from across the globe.
It is a cornucopia of ‘items of design’ in a charmingly varied store setting, surrounded by 19th-century Japanese indigo wall hangings, English slip-ware pottery and lamps topped with marbled shades.
Here at WOOLF we have taken inspiration from the many collections of vintage furniture, lighting and objet d’art on display at shops like 8 Holland Street, where you may find textile greats such as Anni Albers, the tapestries of Alexander Calder and gems from Sonia Delaunay or a vast technicolor painting by Sandra Blow. Explore WOOLF Curate Projects.
8 Holland Street in Bath
The Somerset shop is a stone’s throw from the Royal Crescent, which is the stylish Georgian residential epicenter of Bath. Housed in a former 19th-century grocery store, 8 Holland Street, Bath displays an eclectic array of wares; vases by Dylan Bowen perched on shelves where coffee would once have been sold and lamps which rest on old marble countertops.
It could not be further from the austere showroom style favoured by many luxury interior retailers. They have a “whole range of pricing and there’s no bell on the door.”
Both shops like to flip things around, taking things down, or swap them between the London and Bath shops. The sense of fluidity is great, their key note is in creating a domestic atmosphere within a commercial space.
Whatever chair, etching, pot, piece of glass or rug you love, will go together beautifully if they are placed together in a “sympathetic yet intriguing way.” The influence of “modern British” arts and crafts of the postwar period underpins the aesthetic of the collections they sell.
The residents of Bath during the Georgian era would have undoubtedly approved of a local shop such as 8 Holland Street, selling vintage artefacts, art and furniture from around the globe. During the Georgian era it was incredibly fashionable to refer to design from a bygone age. In their day, they were partially inspired by Roman designs in niches, alcoves, stonework, ironwork and marble. Shields, urn motifs and carved statuary depicting Roman gods and goddesses was a symbol of sophistication. The Georgians favoured classical figures, shown in profile, which they often replicated in plaster work and the Greek key pattern was a recurring theme when combined with pastel colour schemes, especially pea-green, mauve and pink. Explore WOOLF Historic Projects.
8 Holland Street in London
Located in a two-storey space in an eighteenth-century terraced house, in the historical streets between Notting Hill and High Street Kensington, it is a space to wander around, sit and discover.
A simple but potent combination of white walls, found objects, and paintings by modern 20th-century artists, such as Tony O’Malley and Clifford Ellis are propped up along almost every surface.
Their gallery-cum-shop at its eponymous address in Kensington is a favourite within the interior’s world. With a casual glance around you might take in anything from an antique French tapestry to brightly coloured recycled Mexican glass, sitting unexpectedly next to expertly restored mid-century Italian furniture.
The combination of valuable vintage designs with more affordable, eye-catching pieces makes this a friendly, unintimidating way to shop and perfect for first-time collectors and the more experienced buyer alike.
The gallery also showcases carefully selected twentieth-century British artwork, European classical furniture, studio pottery, Scandinavian and Moroccan textiles, inspirational reference books and objects from across the globe. Explore WOOLF Commercial Projects.
Thoughts On Decorating
WOOLF Interior & Design Interior Architecture consider that an interior can be an eclectic mix of styles and visual references, culturally we have never been so uninhibited in our tastes and aesthetic references as we are now.
We pride ourselves on not being constrained by particular design codes in the 21st century and like magpies we can mix seamlessly classic furniture with traditional antiques, quirky mid-century accessories, modernist lighting and art work from practically any era and continent.
Living spaces can reflect who we are and are often decorated with personality, artistic sensibilities and mixes of objects, furniture and art. Artworks and unattributed artifacts are a fun way to add diversity and mystery to your home on a smaller budget. Explore WOOLF Curate Projects.
We recommend in your own collection be bold with experimentation, look around for quirky pieces by anonymous makers. Have a look at the old and the new and in picking great pieces for you home, register the formation of your emotional response to art and design, based upon your own reference points and experiences.
