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OKA Direct
OKA (also known as OKA Direct) is a British furniture and home accessories retailer founded in 1999 by Annabel Astor, Sue Jones, and Lucinda Waterhouse. It is owned by Investindustrial. OKA has 14 shops across the UK, and British and American websites and a catalogue business. History OKA started as a mail-order company in 1999, before opening its first shop in 2000. Annabel Astor, her sister-in-law Sue Jones, and friend Lucinda Waterhouse sold products primarily from East Asia. The initial product range was 'rattan' for the first OKA catalogue – which was photographed in Jane Churchill and Bruce Oldfield's homes – followed by painted wooden furniture, alongside replicas of 18th-century blue and white porcelain and a range of Chinoiserie furniture. OKA has two flagship shops in the UK: Froxfield, an 8,000 sq. ft showroom and a smaller garden room is between Hungerford and Marlborough; and London's three-floor Fulham Road, OKA's largest shop as of its opening in 2010. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retailer
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers. Retail markets and shops have a long history, dating back to antiquity. Some of the earliest retailers were itinerant peddlers. Over the centuries, retail shops were transformed from little more than "rude booths" to the sophisticated shopping malls of the modern era. In the digital age, an increasing number of retailers are seeking to reach broader markets by selling through multiple channels, including both bricks and mortar and online retailing. Digital technologies are also affecting the way that consumers pay for goods and services. Retailing support services may also include the provision ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selfridges
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Selfridges, Oxford Street, Selfridges flagship store at 400 Oxford Street in London opened on 15 March 1909 and is the second-largest shop in the UK (after Harrods). Other Selfridges stores opened in the Manchester area at the Trafford Centre (1998) and at Exchange Square (Manchester), Exchange Square (2002), and in Birmingham at the Selfridges Building, Birmingham, Bullring (2003). During the 1940s, smaller provincial Selfridges stores were sold to the John Lewis Partnership, and in 1951, the original Oxford Street store was acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores. Lewis's and Selfridges were then taken over in 1965 by the Sears plc, Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore.subscription required Expanded under the Sears ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furniture Retailers Of The United Kingdom
Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work (as horizontal surfaces above the ground, such as tables and desks), or to store things (e.g., cupboards, shelves, and drawers). Furniture can be a product of design and can be considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from a vast multitude of materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflects the local culture. People have been using natural objects, such as tree stumps, rocks and moss, as furniture since the beginning of human civilization and continues today in some households/campsites. Archaeological research shows that from ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wisteria (catalog)
Wisteria is an American eCommerce store with an eclectic collection of home and garden accessories from around the world. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia History Wisteria is an American-based retail company specializing in home and garden furnishings, clothing, jewelry, gifts as well as vintage and antique items from around the world. Privately owned by Andrew and Shannon Newsom, it began in 2000, placing ads in Veranda Magazine. In 2001, Wisteria sent out its first catalog. Wisteria’s retail store Fort Worth Star Telegram: Wisteria Outlet Showroom can Inspire opened in November 2010, and is located in Dallas, tx, Dallas, Texas, USA across from [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (founded in 1821), are published by Times Media, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' were founded independently and have had common ownership only since 1966. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. ''The Times'' was the first newspaper to bear that name, inspiring numerous other papers around the world. In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as or , although the newspaper is of national scope and distribution. ''The Times'' had an average daily circulation of 365,880 in March 2020; in the same period, ''The Sunday Times'' had an average weekly circulation of 647,622. The two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milton Park
Milton Park is the UK’s largest single ownership innovation community, situated in Vale of the White Horse in South Oxfordshire, England. The Park is located between Didcot and Abingdon in Science Vale UK, a cluster of significant growth, innovation and enterprise. Covering nearly three million square feet of floor space across 300 acres, it comprises over 250 organisations employing thousands of people across sectors such as life sciences, energy, space and supporting technologies. Milton Park was formerly a Ministry of Defence military depot during the First and Second World Wars, before it was auctioned in 1971 to become the Milton Trading Estate. In 1984, MEPC plc acquired Milton Park and in 1988, the management team made the decision to support science companies, startups and Oxford University spinouts. From 2013 to 2023, occupiers based at Milton Park secured 7.56% of the UK’s overall investment for life sciences. In addition to its occupiers, Milton Park feature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. The town was a spa in the Restoration (England), Restoration and a fashionable resort in the mid-1700s under Beau Nash when the Pantiles, and its chalybeate spring, attracted visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity as a spa town waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town still derives much of its income from tourism. The prefix "List of place names with royal styles in the United Kingdom, Royal" was granted to it in 1909 by King Edward VII; it is one of only three towns in England with the title. The town had a population of 59,947 in 2016, and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells (borough), Tunbridge Wells Borough and in the Constituencies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to the north, with Soho and Mayfair to its immediate south. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around 300,000 daily visitors, and had approximately 300 shops. It is designated as part of the A40, a major road between London and Fishguard, though it is not signed as such, and traffic is regularly restricted to buses and taxis. The road was originally part of the Via Trinobantina, a Roman road between Essex and Hampshire via London. It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was notorious for public hangings of prisoners at Tyburn Gallows. It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use, attracting street traders, conf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fulham Road
Fulham Road is a street in London, England, which comprises the A304 and part of the A308. Overview Fulham Road ( the A219) runs from Putney Bridge as "Fulham High Street" and then eastward to Fulham Broadway, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, through Chelsea to Brompton Road Knightsbridge which continues to the A4 in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is designated the A304 as far as its junction with the A308 road at Gunter Grove, where the A308 then forms the eastern section of the street. Fulham Road is roughly parallel to King's Road, from Fulham Palace. There are numerous antique dealers and specialist interior furnishing shops, while designer couture outlets have begun to arrive at the eastern end. The section nearest the cinema is known as ''The Beach'', and is home to various trendy bars, pubs and clubs. The nearest underground stations are: South Kensington and Gloucester Road. Fulham Road is known for the followi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annabel Astor
Annabel Lucy Veronica Astor, Viscountess Astor (, formerly Sheffield; born 14 August 1948), is an English businesswoman and socialite who is the CEO of OKA, a home furnishings design company. Before co-founding OKA, she was the owner and designer of the Annabel Jones jewellery business in London. Her daughter Samantha is married to David Cameron, formerly British prime minister, Conservative Party leader and president of Alzheimer's Research UK. Background She is the daughter of Timothy Angus Jones and his wife, Patricia David Pandora Clifford. She was educated at Lycée Français de Londres. Her mother was married secondly in 1961 to the Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor, based in London. Her paternal grandparents were Sir Roderick Jones, the Chairman of Reuters, and the novelist Enid Bagnold. Her mother Patricia was the daughter of the Hon. Sir Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford, GCMG, CB (son of William Hugh Clifford, 10th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, a descendant of King Charles II ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Froxfield
Froxfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The parish is on the Wiltshire-West Berkshire border, and the village lies on the A4 national route about west of Hungerford and east of Marlborough. Froxfield village is on a stream that is a tributary of the River Dun. The road between London and Bristol follows the valley of the stream and passes through the village, having followed this course since at least the 13th century. The Kennet and Avon Canal follows the Dun valley through Froxfield parish, passing within of the village. The canal has a series of locks in the parish, from Oakhill Down Lock to Froxfield Bottom Lock. The Reading to Taunton railway line also follows the river through the parish below the village. Archaeology There used to be three bowl barrows in the south-west part of the parish, close to the boundary with Chisbury parish. These suggest human occupation in the area some time in the Neolithic or Bronze Age. In 172 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinoiserie
(, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other Sinosphere artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, literature, theatre, and music. The aesthetic of chinoiserie has been expressed in different ways depending on the region. It is related to the broader current of Orientalism, which studied Far East cultures from a historical, philological, anthropological, philosophical, and religious point of view. First appearing in the 17th century, this trend was popularized in the 18th century due to the rise in trade with China (during the High Qing era) and the rest of East Asia. As a style, chinoiserie is related to the Rococo style. Both styles are characterized by exuberant decoration, asymmetry, a focus on materials, and stylized nature and subject matter that focuses on leisure and pleasure. Chinoiserie focuses on subjects that were thought by Eu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
