This was far less frenetic than last year’s scrum but the decreased level of interest was perhaps down to the slightly inferior quality of goods on offer. There were fewer “big name” items than last year and a lot of the furniture appeared to consist of rusty vintage junk that SCP had used as accessory props in a recent tradeshow. There were some treasures to be extracted from the junk pile, however: I managed to scout out a large Componibili unit (I’ve always wanted one), some pendant lighting (for which I probably won’t find any use), a String sliding cabinet unit in birch (the collection of random String items in my cupboard is slowly coming together!) and a nice metal and wood clothes hook.

Vitra Flash Sale

Vitra sample sales used to be the stuff of legend. Great items coupled with ridiculously low prices caused bargain hunters to take leave of their senses, camping outside the Clerkenwell showroom for days (and nights) in advance and then literally elbowing and punching one another to secure the best items when the doors finally did open. Perhaps as a direct response to this sort of behaviour, this year’s sample sale was a low-key, three day affair involving a meagre selection of items that had clearly failed to sell in the quantities that Vitra had envisaged (that ugly green plastic Vegetal chair was distinctly overrepresented). Prices were not sufficiently enticing for me to buy anything.

TwentyTwentyOne Warehouse Sale

The venue and setup of this warehouse sale, consisting of a spacious warehouse space and small stalls in the courtyard outside, made for a far more civilised shopping experience than the SCP Warehouse Sale. There was a great mixture of furniture, lighting and nice-but-pointless design accessories for sale.  Discounts were decent, causing me to dash around like a greed-crazed monster, sweeping up everything and anything that I liked into the wicker baskets provided.  Much to my embarrassment, this behaviour (coupled with the fact I was the first in the queue), did not go unnoticed by the organisers.

Final Haul

I realise that ornamental wooden birds are somewhat overrepresented in the selection of items below.