Established at the turn of the century, Partridge Fine Arts was one of the world's foremost dealers in antique fine and decorative arts, specialising in English and French 18th-century furniture, Old Master paintings, and English and continental silver. Partridge has helped to assemble many of the finest private collections in the world, several of which are now in public museums.
In celebration of the 70th birthday of the Chairman, John Partridge, Morris Associates was commissioned to design "Vision of the East", a special installation to celebrate the influence of the Orient on the decorative arts of Europe. Our brief included designing a display within the framework of a working commercial gallery setting whilst minimising the effect of any changes to the day to day business activities. By careful strategic planning the installation was successfully executed within one week and with minimal disruption.
In as far as we felt that the existing décor would not provide the most appropriate setting for exhibiting objects in a theme display, the design team managed to convince the board of Partridge to allow the redressing of the existing surfaces without disturbing the period fabrics or structure in situ. When comparing the before and after images shown you can see the dramatic effect that these relatively simple modifications created.
In addition to selling a large percentage of the objects on display, Partridge also received an unprecedented level of high profile press coverage. To quote just one, Country Life said that the exhibition was an "eye opener not only because of the objects on display, but also because of the boldness with which the show had been designed".
