Creative director, writer and photographer Karen Harvey MBE’s collection is set to go under the hammer at Cambridge auction house Cheffins this July, raising funds for waste and poverty-fighting NGO Toiletries Amnesty.
Karen formerly bought and sold vintage and antique pieces and has contributed to Homes & Antiques and seen her home featured in Fabric Magazine.
Now, Karen’s interiors style is going under the hammer as part of Cheffins’ Interiors Sale on 9 July. Star lots include a Johan Bertil Haggstrom sofa and chairs, Constance Spry Fulham Pottery mantle vase, Blot Galland vintage French metal wine racks, a pair of Castelli Plia chairs and a print by Frederic Leighton – The Garden of the Hesperides, hand photogravure, 1893 – one of which is held in the V&A collections. There will be jewellery lots too, spanning Victorian mourning brooches and 1950s marcasite to 1970s Finnish silver and modern gold Versace.
The collection of pieces is being sold to raise funds for Toiletries Amnesty, Karen’s award-winning NGO that works to end both hygiene poverty and beauty industry waste. The organisation started in 2014 with a single donation of shampoo to Wintercomfort, the Cambridge support service for the homeless and vulnerably housed; fast forward to today and, supplying 1,500 locations worldwide, it has given more than nine million people access to toiletries and hygiene products in the last year alone.
Karen is also the founder of Shutter Hub, which provides opportunities, support and networking for creative photographers worldwide. Most recently, she curated the Shutter Hub OPEN exhibition at Cambridge University, and is currently editing photobook The City Series: Cambridge.
Made an MBE in recognition of her work with Toiletries Amnesty, Karen says selling some of her vintage and antique pieces is a natural step. “I’ve accumulated so many great items,” she says. “Every sale will support a really important cause, so I’d encourage everyone to take a look – and place a bid.”