Material Matters

Antique textiles dealer Jennifer Bristow-Smith turned her robust 19th-century Scottish home into a hub of thriving enterprise

- SERENA FOKSCHANER

For Jennifer BristowSmith, an antique textiles dealer who originally studied sculpture and textiles, it is the history of printed wares that intrigues her the most. 'I'm a hunter-gatherer, not a collector. I like finding things and then researching their story. Textiles offer a tangible link with past lives. We all live with fabric - be it a rug, or bed cover - so we can all relate to it.' Jennifer's provenanced wares are not cheap.

Although some dealers buy from me, my main clients are collectors, historians and designers, who know their stuff.' Some buy the rarer pieces to reproduce the designs; others to make cushions or for upcycling. A set of 18th-century panels blockprinted in Coromandel, a former Dutch colony in southern India, recently found its way to an Indian historian who is writing about the subject. But I'll often buy things just because they look interesting.

Sometimes they're valuable, sometimes not.' The hub of her enterprise is the handsome Victorian house in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, where she lives with her husband, Laurence, a diplomat turned historian. They bought it 15 years ago, while posted in Milan. Built for a prosperous local solicitor in 1890, the house was in reasonably good shape. Inside, all it needed were cosmetic tweaks, as well as the luxury of five new bathrooms and a great deal of bookshelves. Outside, gardens tumble down to a wide, tidal river.