January might be the gloomiest month, but it's also the best time to bag a bargain, particularly if you're looking for a design discount or special piece of furniture or lighting for your home.
Ex-display items and cancelled contract orders take up valuable space in the capital's top design showrooms and warehouses, so many offer furniture, lighting and accessories by the world's most renowned designers and manufacturers at greatly reduced prices in their January sales.
Jamie Hayon's (aptly named) Catch lounge chair for less than half price anyone? Head to Viaduct for this and much more. A classic Charles & Ray Eames DAW chair or Mies van der Rohe lounger reduced by 30% and 40% respectively? Go straight to Aram for mid-century modern and Bauhaus bargains. Or scoot to SCP for GamFratesi lighting, Thonet bistro chairs and Terence Woodgate shelving units with up to 70% off the price tag.
Design classics will not only add kudos to your home, they are investment pieces that will hold their value and last a lifetime.
VIADUCT
Starting on Saturday 4th Januaryonlineand in-store from 10.30 a.m. at its elegant Clerkenwell showroom, this sale is well worth braving the elements for. Find the afore-mentioned Catch lounge chair with 60% off, making it £575, alongside other heavily discounted modern masterpieces from Menu, e15, Gubi, Carl Hansen & Son and many other European modern design heavyweights.
Viaduct, 1-10 Summer Street, London, EC1R 5BD.
ARAM
With five storeys of original 20th and 21st century design, this Covent Garden mecca of style, has plenty of ex-display pieces to tempt including this Bauhaus Edition chaise by Mies van der Rohe or the DAW chair by Charles & Ray Eames and other covetable design classics, with big discounts, from 30-75% off.
Aram, 110 Drury Lane, London, WC2B 5SG.
SCP
With two outposts – the original showroom in Hoxton and a new premises on Pimlico Road – SCP has provided the capital's design aficiandos with fine furniture and lighting since 1985. Specialising innew designs from around the world and a healthy dose of 20th Century design classics, it's the place to head for up to 70% off some of the best in modern design.
SCP, 135-139 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3BX.