For any enthusiast keen to know the state of the Japanese antique textile market in the U.K., Marilyn Ratcliffe knows more than most. When we talk -- her already soft Cheshire burr blurred by hay fever ("they just mowed the grass in fields nearby") -- she has just the day before returned from a vintage clothes and textiles fair in Hammersmith, West London.
"People down south are only just beginning to know I'm here. I tend to do better up here in the north because that's where I began the business, and friends and friends of friends have all become collectors."
She will be back in Hammersmith Town Hall on July 18. Then the summer begins in earnest, and trade becomes very quiet. "September gets busy again, with a fair in Manchester and an upmarket antiques fair in Birmingham. Also I'll be up and down to London, of course, as soon as the holidays are over."