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Tete a Tat with Ed Foster, June 2026
If you have visited the Battersea Decorative Fair in the last few years you will have at some point come across the delights of Foster & Gane. In my humble opinion they were one of the anchors of the fair their stand was no white cube. It was a world within that fair. Here Ed & Val, the mother and son team behind Foster & Gane, would create an intimate setting, where the distinctiveness of the pieces and the design they interwove made one feel quite at home. Yes, finer than any home you and I might be able to afford, but one can but dream.
This year they will be taking their spectacular wares to Treasure House, which opens to the public on the 25th June. Treasure House is one of the few major fairs left in the British calendar. Since Brexit, opportunities to see dealers of this calibre gathered under one roof have become increasingly scarce, making events like these all the more important and a must-see for anyone with even a tinge of interest in the industry.
It is a mark of one's career when you move to these bigger fairs, and Ed has had such an excellent curriculum vitae to find himself among these names next week. After finishing his degree in Art History at Leeds, he went on to do a Master's at Sotheby's Institute of Fine and Decorative Art. Although the art side of the course perhaps didn't speak to him as much as he hoped, when they did a module in Furniture, something just clicked. His dissertation subject — John Fowler — a more perfect start in the industry could not be found. With this hefty research under his arm he was able to get an internship at Colefax & Fowler, Brook Street. On his first day, like many of us, he went in with a certain amount of hubris, suited and booted and ready to start cataloguing. I can relate, my first day at House & Garden I was in a pencil skirt and blazer, set to packing boxes, while Ed found himself sweeping leaves off the street outside the Brook Street office.
When a member of the antiques department went on maternity leave, Ed took his chance and applied for the job. There he worked under the terrific Roger Jones and Daniel Slowik, two of the most respected eyes in the business, and a finer education is hard to come by. As with any job early in your career, if you're lucky, you rarely realise at the time that those days were filled with fun. Little responsibility, but with worlds of education in front of you and of course drinks in the Brook Street courtyard.
From there he chose to try his luck with the little-known Rose Uniacke, of course, I am but joshing. But even I remember when the shop was smaller and her name was not quite the behemoth it is
today. Ed worked under Guy Tobin. As anyone who has read Tat London will know, I am a huge fan of his. He has such empathy and understanding of furniture, and helped Ed hone his eye. "It was a thrilling time," Ed recalls. "Guy was so generous with his time, explaining why the pieces were so magnificent."
While Ed had been busying away at Rose Uniacke, his mother Val had been making a name for herself dealing. She would roam markets, hover over online salerooms and created an excellent reputation for herself working at Battersea and supplying to many of the bigger dealers. In 2015, with Ed's decision to move to the country, it seemed a sensible decision for mother and son to join forces. They started in their garage with a backdrop for photographs (not dissimilar to the current Tat setup) and were there until 2019, when they made the nerve-wracking leap to a permanent presence in Oxfordshire, next to Lassco's. That is now their home, and to anyone lucky enough to be passing I would strongly recommend a visit. It is an excellent setup and home to some truly jaw-dropping pieces. But if you are London-bound, do visit Treasure House next week you will not regret it.
London Rd, Milton Common,
Thame OX9 2JN
Do you believe in ghosts?
Nope. I’ve definitely had strange, haunting feelings in a few houses but I think was probably more down to the owners than anything supernatural.
Are you a fan of surprises?
As long as it’s a nice surprise I love them! I hate finding out about them before they happen – I’ll try and act that I never knew, but I’m not a great actor and I feel awful for everyone involved.
Favourite poem?
To my shame I’m not terribly well-versed on poetry and I’d be a fraud to pretend I had something at the front of my mind. So I’ll cheat and go with a song: Blue Fires by case.lang.veirs. I’m a sucker for a song about unrequited love and I find this one totally devastating but completely wonderful.
Any good advice? Who gave it to you?
My great uncle wrote to me on my 18th birthday in a letter I still own and advised: ‘Never expect too much and never attempt too little’. Something that I try to remind myself of as often as I can. That and Bowie’s maxim about exciting things happening when you’re just straying out of your depth. Terrifying, and totally against my nature, but exhilarating.
Favourite restaurant?
Not exactly a deep-cut but I think it would have to be The Devonshire. Love the atmosphere in there, amazing bread, pies and the best Guinness in town.
Pet Peeve? (e.g. mine is people not saying thank you if you hold the door open etc)
Lateness is a tight second to one-way conversations with someone fascinated by themselves. My mother always said ‘asking these people questions is like throwing biscuits to a dog – they gulp them down and wait for the next one’.
If money were no object, what painting would you like to own?
I’ll be calmed by piece by Algernon Newton I think. The Surrey Canal, Camberwell will do nicely.
Top destination in the UK?
Llangrannog on the Ceredigion coastline is one of our favourite places to run away to. Endless coastal walks, deserted sandy coves, dolphins, seafood….heaven.
What language would you most like to be able to speak?
French, without a doubt. Every year when we go to France I seem to get worse somehow. However, the fact that I barely understand what’s being said perhaps makes it all the more alluring. One day I’ll manage a conversation with in French without stumbling into the inevitable je ne parles pas Francais.
If you could live in any era of history, which one would you choose and what would you do?
One of my passions is European Avant-Garde design at the turn of the 20th century. I’d plonk myself in the middle of the Wiener Werkstatte in Vienna and witness some of the greatest designers of all time do their thing. One more: Oxford 1985 and I happen to find myself being a founding member of Radiohead.
What song will always make you tap your foot?
Nothing but Flowers by Talking Heads. Would not be able to sit still listening to it. That just beats Temptation by New Order for songs I can’t stay still to.
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