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ONE DAY WITH | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA
Camilla Frances spends the day with antique and vintage hunters, Brooke Metcalfe and Sarah Hiscox, whose keen eyes for design and nose for a special find led them to establish Source London in 2021. With their special curation for Cabana Vintage now available exclusively, the pair talk Camilla through their lives, both personal and professional, over one long, inspiring day together.
INTERVIEW BY CAMILLA FRANCES | MASTERS & MUSES | 15 SEPTEMBER 2026
Friends and founders Brooke Metcalfe (left) and Sarah Hiscox (right) © Iona Wolff.
Mutual aesthetic admiration, shared humour and a solid friendship brought Source London founders Brooke Metcalfe and Sarah Hiscox together for what’s proving to be one of the most exciting chapters of their personal and professional lives to date.
In 2021, after a serendipitous invitation from a friend, a spontaneous phone call and an immediate decision, their antique and vintage-sourcing venture was up and running, with the duo adding business owners to the many hats they wear. In the five years since they launched, the London-based friends have sourced beautiful, unique and hard-to-find furniture, art and objects for clients all over the world, keeping their networks deliberately tight and manageable, and relying almost exclusively on word-of-mouth recommendations.
The chemistry between them is so infectious that this Cabana interview – which took place in Brooke’s impeccably designed and sourced home – stretched for many happy hours. It was preceded by long conversations covering everything from female friendships, motherhood, mid-life career changes and the power of collaboration, to Brooke’s boldly experimental first apartment in Manhattan and Sarah’s new memoir, The Beginning and End of Everything.
When we finally settled into the subject du jour – a day in the life of modern antique dealers – the pair shared their founders’ stories, their journeys prior, and the picture today: how they run and maintain their business. Read on for an inspiring conversation about following your nose, and your passion, in the very best of company.
Camilla Frances: How did the two of you first meet?
Brooke Metcalfe: We met initially through our children. Sarah's son is one of my daughter’s closest friends and he came on holiday with us. We didn't really know each other directly, but we knew of each other, and we have circles that cross.
Sarah Hiscox: Brooke may not know this, but my son, Beach – an interior decorator, working for Jacques Grange – would take pictures of Brooke’s divine houses in London and the country and say, ‘look, don’t you love that painting’ and ‘that table is amazing’ and so on. So, I knew Brooke had a great eye before I’d even met her properly in person.
Source London founder Brooke Metcalfe photographed at home © Iona Wolff.
BM: And my theory was that if you have a son with an eye so good that he goes to work for Jacques Grange, that talent must come from somewhere. Sarah is very talented, she really is. We also had various friends in common and we then became good friends ourselves, but it was that mutual love of decorating and antiques that meant Sarah was the first person I called when I thought about starting Source.
CF: Tell me how the idea for Source London first came about?
BM: I'm American, but moved to London when I married my husband. About five years ago, a lot of people were leaving London, and our lives were going through various shifts. I knew I didn’t want to leave London, it was home, but I had to make it work for me. At the same time, a friend came round for dinner, complimented my house and asked if I would help her redo her own home. I’d always wanted to do something like this.
So, I showed up at this friend’s house for a meeting and there was a peanut gallery of architects, planners, colleagues. She was asking each of us what we thought. I knew that was not what I wanted to do – I’m not an interior designer – but it had given me an idea. When I walked in she told me all the things she needed for the house.
Brooke's art-filled kitchen © Iona Wolff.
I made a list, went home and then woke up with this epiphany. I realised that was a business in itself and I would call it Source. It was one of those light bulb moments. I knew I wanted to go out and find all those beautiful pieces, but I didn’t want to deal with CAD drawings and builders. It was just about finding specific pieces. A couple of days later, Sarah and I were having lunch and I told her; I knew I loved the idea of doing it together.
CF: Sarah, what were your first thoughts when Brooke suggested the idea?
SH: That’s what was so lovely, it was so manageable. Brooke wasn't suggesting we start a huge business, it was more like, ‘this friend of mine needs a couple of sofas’ and I love doing that anyway. I'm always online looking at stuff, and I’ve sourced many things for my own houses but never thought about it as a career or business before.
Like Brooke, I knew I didn’t want to be a designer, but I do love sourcing, and I had great contacts in the antiques world in London and the country. It’s totally right for this stage of our lives, where the children are grown up and a little bit less demanding, but we’re still full of energy and want to find new challenges that excite us. I’ve just written a book [The Beginning and End of Everything], and now I love that I can feel excited about this opportunity too. My kids might be older, but I didn’t want to slow down or stop working.
Source London co-founders Brooke Metcalfe and Sarah Hiscox © Iona Wolff.
CF: How did you establish the business, from finding clients to sourcing?
BM: We both have confidence in our taste, good or bad, and that's useful to a client who may be overwhelmed by decisions after a long renovation. Often they have such little confidence and they need you to be decisive. Most of our clients find us by word-of-mouth, through recommendations from friends and contacts. Our business model is very transparent when we work with individuals – we pass on our trade discount, so they know they’re getting a fair price, and of course we factor in a scaling commission.
But it means clients know they’re not getting slapped with design fees, high retail prices, a day rate and so on. There is a lot more transparency in how we work, which is good because our clients are usually at the very beginning or end of an expensive project.
SH: We’ve established such good relationships with dealers over many years that, if a client is based in UK, we’re sometimes even able to allow them to try the piece in their own home before committing. That’s an unusual, specialist service.
BM: We’re dealing with people who love objects, and deeply understand how they can change a room. But they don’t necessarily want to change or redesign a whole room, and they don’t often have the time or inclination to source themselves, or they don’t have access to the same networks. They might just want two amazing lamps, or a sofa, or a beautiful mirror. Some people might want contemporary art – I worked in the art world for a long time – whereas others might want a David Gill table or a humble ceramic object.
CF: Can you tell me about the vintage collection you’ve sourced for Cabana?
BM: I’ve known Martina [Cabana founder] for many years and then I remember sitting next to you at a dinner and we spoke about Source and how fun it would be to collaborate. Martina and I then had lunch in Milan and the idea sparked again. She asked us to source items inspired by travel and history, with a certain English eccentricity.
We were immediately excited by the brief, and having an editorial story to source around. We rang up our network of dealers and asked them what they had, and what was coming in, and then it was lots of time researching online and going to antique fairs, like Battersea, to source directly. I remember being at Battersea sending images to the Cabana team and they’d be saying ‘yes’, ‘no’, based on what best suited the brief and budget. It was fun, and natural.
CF: What are your favorite pieces from the collection?
BM: I loved quite a few things we sourced (pictured above). In particular: a richly carved vintage armchair in the Renaissance Revival style, which we chose for its sculptural form and decorative presence; a versatile three-panel French 1970s bamboo screen; and a late 19th-century Victorian stick table with a Chinoiserie-decorated papier-mâché top. I loved the whimsy of the bamboo screen, the stick work legs of the table and the chair's statement.
SH: I love these four pieces too, and I think my favorite of all is the bamboo table. It's so versatile. It could be a bedside table, a side table for a sitting room with a simple lamp on it, or even in the bathroom with a geranium on it. It's perfect!
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