Unforgettable advice from the late, great antiques dealer Christopher Gibbs

Described by the Telegraph as ‘the great civilising influence of the high 1960s counterculture,’ tributes have been pouring in for the late collector, antiques dealer, bibliophile and tastemaker Christopher Gibbs, who died yesterday in Tangier. Expelled from Eton for conning the local antiquarian bookseller into buying back its own stock, Gibbs set up his first antiques shop in Islington just as Sixties London was beginning to swing. Forming part of a group of socialites, fashion designers and flamboyant pop stars, who are now the stuff of cultural legend, his set, which included the Rolling Stones, re-invented the idea of dandyism, and made the English home cool again.

His work was beautifully defined by Christopher Manson in a 1990’s profile in the New York Times; ‘He is the leading proponent of that that elusive brand of anti-decoration, high-bohemian taste favoured by self-confident Englishmen, a look based on well-worn grandeur, disarming charm and unexpected contrasts.’ In tribute we’ve unearthed our favourite Christopher Gibbs quotes. Timeless advice which will stand for generations to come.

"We have got to the extraordinary moment when everything is held to have a value, 'I'm a great chucker-out. I go into people's homes and say: 'Chuck it out, chuck it out'. They say: 'But I won't have anything to sit on'. I say: 'Sit on the floor, then, until you find the right thing'.'

'As life goes by, that's what I admire. Objects and people that are unmonkeyed with, that are themselves, not trying to be something else.'

‘Following your nose. Finding out who the best merchant is. Sleuthing round sale rooms. Then only buy the things you're really turned on by.’

'I love to bring light into gloom. Even dark-panelled rooms can come leaping into life with the help of Chinese blue-and-white ceramics or a refreshing Meissen sculpture.'

'I try to find things for my clients which I have never seen before, which they have never seen before and which neither of us are likely to see again. I might see beauty in strange things, strange beings, strange places.'

'Most old stuff is rubbish. And lots of it is hideous. But if you want to buy a nice table or desk, it's only a few hundred pounds - not more than a thousand.'

'They all want to be like everyone else. They want a good car, a good sound system and a huge pink heart painted by Damien Hirst with dying butterflies on it which costs £400,000. Yet for much less you could buy something completely fascinating made 300 years ago.'

'I like people to collect and buy things which have a strong personal flavour of someone gone by. For example, walking sticks. You can walk into a frightfully ugly house and the most strongly personal and tangy corner of it is the walking-stick stand in the hall. Its sticks have been given by people to each other, they chronicle events.'

'I'm not interested in creating a dazzling impression of richness. We can make do with surprisingly little in life. It is best to have a few things which are really nice. I don't approve of the mean look, but I do approve of the spare look, where every little bit is telling. I want to help people make nice, cosy homes where they are going to live happy, beautiful lives. No, it's not tongue-in-cheek. I mean it.'

Sources: New York Times; Independent; Telegraph