Blog

October 2011: Leanne Carter-Taylor embarks on a 4-week journey to the UK, Belgium and France sourcing only the most covetable ‘finds’. These are then carefully packed and shipped across mutliple oceans, destination; Sydney’s leading ‘Found Industrial and Antiques’ store, quintessential duckeggBLUE.  Take a look behind the scenes as we give you an insight into Leanne’s world.

“Purveyors of the Finest JUNK” indeed!

The British RAF practicing flight routines over the fields of markets…a pleasant distraction!

Obligatory tea break… she IS English don’t forget!

Filming of the English BBC program ‘Bargain Hunt’ and host Tim Wonnacott conducting interviews in the English markets. Luckily Leanne’s trips are much more successful than those of the ‘Bargain Hunt’ contestants!

Englishmen packing finds into containers heading to the docks. Thankfully OUR packers take a lot more care than these men!!!!

 Now onto Belgium, she started in the South, and then to be honest she has no idea which direction she went in…..she wasn’t driving or navigating!!  The factory reclamation was as interesting as ever and after looking far and wide, Belgium shaped up to be a great location for covetable finds!

The lengths Leanne goes to, finding that quintessential chair! Climb in!

Digging through the Belgian grove

An interesting character!!

Crossing the border into the Frenchman’s territory, Leanne’s translator provided a great source of assistance with the nuances of the romantic language. Scouring the country from top to bottom, France produced a fantastic array of quality pieces (not to mention pictureque scenery!!).

The condition of many pieces as they stand before Leanne’s magic wand cleans them up

A rainy day off at Versailles

After a lovely day appreciating the decadent French palace, it was an early start for Leanne. 1.5 hours spent on a train, turning up at the dark French markets… an early start to a cold, wet day! Not happy Jan!

The trip continued to a lovely town in the South of France. The weather cleared and a sunny Sunday morning was spent wandering the idyllic marketplace, quite a treat compared to some markets!!

French townspeople enjoying a game of rugby. Here the French were playing New Zealand in the World Cup final 2011. Unfortunately the French lost. C’est la vie!

Tempted? I was! Just need the red wine to go with it

The things she comes across… it makes you wonder…

A lonely chair ‘en route’ to quintessential duckeggBLUE. Gorgeous French Walnut chair, dating to 1850 sits idly by the truck of our packers. We can’t wait till it arrives!

Talk about picturesque!! The walls of Avignon and a quaint village street

A sad club chair begging to be taken home. Unlucky. It was splitting at the seams, no front feet and in terrible condition so it never made the cut. Club chairs are among Leanne’s favourite items and are EXTREMELY hard to find!

On the last day in France before heading home to Sydney, Leanne lunched in Paris in wandered the Jardin de Tuileries. Literally about to get on a plane, turned the corner and walked straight into a mob of French supporters welcoming home their losing rugby team! A fitting farewell it may seem!

We can’t wait until all the fabulous finds from this trip arrive in store. The shipment is due very soon and all items will be available at quintessential duckeggBLUE from Friday 6th January 2012. Take a look at our new finds here.