History
Always out of the ordinary
Matthew's grandparents shop on Stamford town bridge in 1971, the year Matthew was born – no wonder they say it's in the blood! Further to the right you can see Matthew reflected in one of his 'out of the ordinary' antiques, and his wonderful Grandmother Olive arranging the jewellry in her shop window.
Matthew was born into a family of antique dealers. His father Robin is a well-known dealer in medieval carvings; his mother, Pearl Bugg, an artist whose primitive animal paintings carry the same feeling for natural material and surface that runs through Matthew's own work. His grandparents ran an antiques shop on Stamford's town bridge. The town, and a love of rare and wonderful objects, were always part of who he was going to become.
In 1998, Matthew opened his first antiques shop on London's Lillie Road, dealing in the substantial pieces that had always drawn him: simple forms, natural materials, beautiful patinas. The stands he designed for the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair at Battersea Park showed that his instinct for presentation was as strong as his instinct for the objects themselves.
Then 9/11 happened, and his US customer base stopped travelling almost overnight. London, in any case, was never going to contain the scale of what Matthew wanted to work with. He found a 1930s Dutch barn in Stamford, and brought everything back north.
Matthew's formative years certainly influenced his path in life, but like his father and grandfather before him, he knew his future would be very different to the past Robin and Ralph knew. With the days of 'sleeping treasures' all but gone, 'always out of the ordinary' became Matthew's guiding principle.
London beckoned and Matthew's Lillie Road shop was soon thriving...until 9/11 when his US customer base stopped travelling almost overnight.
Matthew's taste for substantial pieces meant London would not be viable long term, so he found a draughty warehouse in his hometown, bought himself the best 5 megapixel (!) digital camera that money could buy and lugged his hulking tables and cabinets back up to the town of Stamford.
He's now been based in Stamford for over a decade, living and working from a bustling Georgian square with his sidekick Camilla and dog called Oggy.
Matthew Cox was founded in 2017 with Camilla McLean, with Matthew's eye for what endures, now turned to design and at the heart of everything the company produces. In 2019, Greg Stone joined to establish and lead the workshop, building the standards of craft and culture that define it today. With every significant arrival since, including Mark Harding, a former RAF Wing Commander who joined as head of production, the company has grown and strengthened.
Matthew Cox certified as a B Corp in 2024, among the highest-scoring companies in our industry at the time.
While the rest of his family had all set up shop in Stamford, Matthew opened his first shop (pictured here) in 1998 on London's thriving Lillie Road. His love of simple design, natural materials and beautiful patinas is evident very early on.
The way things are presented has become increasingly important to Matthew, first with his shop on the Lillie Road and then with the acclaimed stands he designed for the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park. The spiral staircase image is from Matthew's showstopping 'The Industrial Works' stand where he collaborated with graphic designer Anthony Burrill in the fair's foyer. To the the right is a naive painting by Pearl Bugg (Matthew's mother) of the house where Matthew currently exercises his creative muscles, curating scenes that he shoots for this website!
