The Farley blog

Not only do we love what we do, we also love to talk about it! Here are some of the news, views and reviews that we just couldn’t keep to ourselves.

How to get the most from our stock search, and other features on our website.

A still of the Farley Prop Hire homepage

Welcome to the Farley website!  We’d like to think that we’ve created a intuitive and user friendly website but there’s never any harm in giving a few extra pointers here and there so that you can really get the most out of the site. There are some great features and we’d hate for you to miss them so here’s a quick guide to the most important ones.

In the spotlight: From spies to ‘Abba’, Production Buyer Gill Farr has worked with them all.

A still from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which Gill Farr worked on as production Buyer

This week our featured Production Buyer is Gill Farr who has had an illustrious and impressive career in the industry.  Gill began her journey in Theatre Stage Management, before becoming a trainee Props Buyer at the BBC where her career really took off.  She has worked on many notable film and television productions including ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’, ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, and one of her own favourites, the hit Abba musical ‘Mama Mia’.  Here Gill kindly gives us an insight into her job, and what she believes it takes to make it in the industry:-

In the spotlight: Film industry Buyer Terry Jones gives us some tricks of the trade

Production buyer Terry Jones's favourite film, Paddington!

This week our featured Production Buyer is Terry Jones. A connoisseur in her field Terry has been working within the industry since 1974 and started her career by completing an apprenticeship within the Props Department at London Weekend Television, which she later managed! Today Terry is found working on a combination of Film and TV productions, her recent favourite being the movie Paddington! She is also a member and Treasurer of the British Film Designers Guild.

A fitting solution for our fine art collection: New racking and displays at Spiller

Fine art racking at Spiller

With the largest collection of oil paintings, prints, watercolours, abstracts, engravings and sculptures, our Spiller department is one of the finest collections of art outside of a gallery (in our humble opinion!), and better yet, everything’s available to hire. Storing the collection and then finding particular pieces is a challenge but we think we’ve cracked it. 

Massive event to organise? Here are 5 furniture and prop ideas to impress your guests.

Picture the scene: your boss has just appeared in your office and has given you the task of planning a huge event for his top clients…your nearest and dearest is about to turn 50 and wants to go out with a bang…or you’ve just got engaged and want to plan the wedding of your dreams. There’s so much to think about so the last thing you want to be worrying about is the décor, but panic not!

With our top 5 furniture and prop ideas for dressing a party, you’ll be able to pull off a show stopper to rival the pros.