For two days each year, were you to step inside the halls of Dulwich College, you’d have the sensation of stepping back in time, writes Maya Sgaravato-Grant…
On Sunday 22 March this will be true once again, with the iconic biannual ‘Mid-century Modern’ fair set to celebrate the best of vintage – and some more modern – furniture from the UK and beyond.
Held in a 1960s addition to the famous 17th century school complex, the fair will feature pieces from 85 vintage dealers and modern designers.
For Lucy Ryder Richardson and Petra Curtis – founders of ‘Modern Shows’, which organised the fair – their motivation for creating the shows came from personal demand.
“We both lived in midcentury houses in Dulwich. I was in Great Brownings and Petra in Lymer Avenue – both on the Dulwich Estate,” Ryder Richardson said.
“There was nowhere to shop for what we wanted for our houses within a reasonable distance, so we created our ‘perfect shopping experience’.”
They certainly achieved that. Since holding a one-off open house event in 2002, the pair have expanded their horizons, going on to organise a number of regular shows, source furniture for prominent companies and businesses, stage properties for The Modern House and Inigo, and even appear on television – Ryder Richardson is a regular on BBC One’s The Bidding Room.
They have organised pop-ups at such events such as designjunction, one of London’s leading interior design shows, and were chosen by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway in collaboration with The South Bank to be the furniture and homeware curator for Vintage Festival 2011.
Their events have also been graced by famous faces, ranging from actors Olivia Colman, Andrew Garfield and Jason Statham to writers Dominic Bradbury, Claudia Baillie and Dominic Lutyens, as well as James Bond set designers.
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As Ryder Richardson highlighted, considerable effort goes into putting every show together, with preparations for the next show beginning the week after the previous one.
“Petra curates the midcentury part of the show and tries to make it as eclectic as possible, covering all the kinds of pieces you might want in your home from the UK’s top midcentury modern and vintage dealers,” she said.
“Tanya, the marketplace manager, curates the contemporary section sourcing designers all over the country.”
However, for Ryder Richardson, the favourite part of the events is watching ‘dealers and designers do really well’.
The upcoming fair will contain pieces from design greats such as Cherner, the Eameses, and Hans Wegner, alongside a number from emerging British talents, which visitors can purchase commission free.
Visitors will be able to chat to furniture dealers and designers over the course of the day, while also having the chance to savour freshly made sourdough pizzas and peruse a selection of jewellery, fabrics, ceramics, glass, metals, knitwear, and more.
For those who are not around on the 22nd, there will be another opportunity to browse Modern Shows’ varied and impressive collection at a new pop up in Westbourne Park’s Mason & Fifth hotel in June.
Time: 10am – 4pm; last entry 3.30pm
Date: Sunday 22 March 2026
Price: £12 on the door, with discounted tickets available at modernshows.com. Children under 12 go free.
Address: Dulwich College, London SE21 7LD
