Financial Times Travel Unravelled
The Cult Shop
Opium
By Avril Groom
The massive stone columns and antique arches in the burgundy-framed
window of Opium give a hint of the treasures within. For packed
inside are the spoils of owner Tracy Kitching's travels on the
Indian sub-continent, covering a huge range from gold-embroidered
sari-silk notebooks at £1.95 to reclaimed architectural
antiques at £1,000.
Oriental furniture and textiles are currently wildly fashionable
but Kitching spotted the trend early. Having given up her job
as a PA eight years ago to travel in northern India with her
sister, she found amazing antique wooden furniture in Jodhpur,
a historic centre for trade on the spice route and still a hive
of antique dealers. 'My sister bought and shipped a table and
it started a gem of an idea,' she says. 'I spent tow years researching
to find reliable small dealers who seek out only top-quality
objects and untapped areas of the market like salvaged stonework
from ruined buildings.'
Six years ago she set up shop next to Vivien Westwood's World's
End on the King's Road. The rough-hewn exposed brick, pale colour
washed walls and dark wood floor suit the colourful melange
of silk and leather, wood and stone. An ogee-arched niche contains
carved stone pieces and candles; the 'Opium Den' features a
velvet sofa scattered with Kitching's own-designed silk and
velvet cushions (from £48).
Customers including Charlie Watts, Ringo Star, John Hurt and
Kay Saatchi enjoy a leisurely browse, for every shelf turns
up fresh treasures. Big pieces such as a colonial wooden bed
with mosquito net frame (£995, voile curtains, £45),
a restrung antique carved charpoi (£425) or two painted
stone columns from a temple (£995) form the stage set
for the smaller items - carved brass cooking dishes made from
old bell metal (£65-800), marble lotus plates and bowls
(from £22), a basket of carved blocks for fabric printing
(from £12). And on the walls are clever improvisations
- a mirror made from an antique window (£395), bookshelves
made from intricately carved doorway (£1.350).
Kitching spends two five-week trips in India a year buying and
working on her own designs: a lovely range of semiprecious jewellery
(from £20); cotton or silk tunics and kaftans finely embroidered
with chikankari work (from £68); children's kaftan pyjamas
(£25); and cotton (from £85) and silk (from (£120)
skirts in delicate tie-dye bandhani work. There are also brilliant
quilted cotton Pakistani throws based on colonial British chintzes
(from £195), and antique wedding saris embroidered with
gold (from £195).
Kitching sources mainly in Rajasthan and Delhi but there is
so much trade there that items come from all over, from stone
carvings of the elephant god Ganesh from Varanasi (£295),
to French-colonial antique hand-painted porcelain drawer handles
from Pondicherry (£12 each). All wonderful objects, many
with travellers' tales to match. |
