Any Jane Austen fans out there?
We've got the perfect vintage biscuit tin for you!!
Dating from the 1950s and made by A.Romary & Co Ltd from Tunbridge Wells, it's decorated with Georgian dandies doffing their hats to the coquettish ladies riding atop their horse drawn carriage - all in their period finery.
So settle back with your chocolate digestives for the next episode of Pride & Prejudice - perhaps you could even tempt your own Mr Darcy round for tea & biscuits!
Longtime followers of our blog will know that we love the art of Charley Harper. This one, entitle "Octoberama" is one of our favourites! He was very prolific and his work can be found as originals artworks, prints, books, calendars, stationery, mouse mats... the list goes on & on... all of which can be bought from either the Charley Harper estate website or Amazon UK or Original Article
Whether it be the physical landscape itself or the flora & fauna contained within it, artists and designers have been influenced by nature over the centuries.
Inspiration drawn from mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, clouds, trees, birds, fish, plants, flowers are all reflected in their work.
We thought it would be fun to take these broad themes and show their influence on the creative process. For no particular reason, we're going to start with fish!
vintage 1960s pottery plates
We might feature stuff from any decade, but there will, no doubt be a mid 20th century bias as we love this era and are always drawn to vintage pieces from the 50s, 60s & 70s.
Large 1950s green glass dish
1960s art glass sculptures
Stylised fish were a much-used design motif in this mid 20th century period- in art, design and everyday homewares.
Collage entitled Fish Fossil Sea Bed by Andrew Rob, 1970
1960s iron trivet Swedish serving dish (Dukat)
Aquarius series plates by Washington Pottery
John Clappison, Hornsea Pottery Bernard Moss Pentewan Pottery
Hornsea Pottery wall-mountable fish... who needs flying ducks?
Also, the artistic treatment given in cookbooks etc can be quite magical. Two of our undoubted favourites are Bill Charmatz and Charley Harper.
Bill Charmatz - from the Esquire Cook Book first published in Great Britain in 1956.
Charley Harper - from Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two first published in 1958.
Finally, to show that nature can do a pretty good job herself, we picked up this fossil from a great little shop in Hastings. Preserved in green river shales, it's 45 million years old (hopefully you won't be waiting that long for the launch of our website!).
Knightia alta, Eocene period. Origin: Wyoming
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
In our case, it was the egg - the one that came with the Terrybaun egg cup & saucer we blogged about last week!
This chicken is also a piece of slipware that we recently found - the cute little figure is only 9cm tall. We thought it might be a pie funnel when we first saw it. It's hollow but there's no hole to let the steam out. Perhaps just a little ornament then... unless you've got other ideas? Its colour is reminiscent of that classic Wedgewood Jasperware blue. Very sweet - we wouldn't mind a flock of these!
We've accumulated a huge pile of logs over the autumn & winter. Justin has been on about getting a chainsaw for a couple of years. I nearly got him one for Christmas, but didn't.
Roughneck wood grenade: from about a tenner
Never mind, his birthday's not too far off - although, to be honest, I'd much prefer to get him one of these wood grenades. Don't get me wrong, it's not because it's a tenth of the price - it's because he's fairly accident prone and would be less likely to end in tears (and blood probably!)
We're big fans of postage stamps here at H is for Home and this gorgeous example was designed by British fashion designer, Paul Smith. It's one of a set he recently designed for the Isle of Man to commemorate the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Oh, and did you know that Paul Smith is a HUGE cycling fan?
In this Friday Folks post we introduce Pilgrim Lee (aka Draw! Pilgrim). We've admired Pilgrim's work for a long while - she shares our love of bold, bright colours and design from the 60s & 70s. She's a very busy lady - blogger, designer, maker, seller, traveller, mother... where does she find the time?!
Who are you & what do you do?
I'm Pilgrim Lee, owner of Draw! Pilgrim and I'm a graphic designer and illustrator from Melbourne, Australia.
How did you get into the business?
While I was in high school I worked for my mum's graphic design business. Following high school and a couple of years abroad I studied visual communication and shortly after, I started Draw! Pilgrim as a home-based business while I cared for my baby son.
Who or what inspires you?
All kinds of things inspire me, but most of those things are colorful, wild design from the 60s and 70s: Verner Panton, Hans Edelman, Milton Glaser etc.
What has been your greatest success?
I'm very proud of how my business has grown over the last couple of years, and I would never have believed some of the great publicity I've received in that time: inclusion in the Print & Pattern 2 book, magazine and newspaper features, and coverage on some really huge blogs!
Have you got any advice for someone wanting to break into the business?
Be well prepared. Consider your various strategies and policies. Move at a pace you are comfortable with - even if it's slower than you think it should be. Being comfortable to take each next step is a guarantee of your work being good quality. Be confident! You can do it!
Alexander Girard book by Todd Oldham & Kiera Coffee available from Amazon UK: £93.75 & Amazon US: $126.00
I know the festive season's only just gone, but I'm putting this Alexander Girard book on my Christmas wish list for next year!
My two most favourite colours in the world - violet purple & tangerine orange - TOGETHER - in a gorgeous vintage kitchen setting!
[Image via Beautiful Spaces and Places]
We bought these items this week - most of them from one local contact actually. It's quite a mid century modern collection!
Two lovely bits of German pottery for starters - they're both by Dumler & Breiden. We love the colour contrast and striking repeat pattern of the bowl. The vase has a very distinctive form similar to another piece we've got. The combination of thick, textured glaze to the sides and smooth vibrant orange glaze highlighting the holes & vase rim is very effective. We're trying to be quite strict with ourselves these days, but that's probably a keeper!
And yet more flashes of orange with the desk lamp & cased glass vase. The lamp, dating from the 60s/70s, is adjustable and has a label for '1001 Lamps Ltd' of London. The vase is unmarked, but dates from the same period.
There's another nice table lamp in view, this one being teak with a fibreglass shade. The base looks very Danish.
And, staying with the Scandinavian theme, we have some interesting stainless steel pieces. The snack tray is Danish and quite an unusual shape; the pair of matching vases were made in Sweden. There's some lovely Tupperware spice pots too - both colourful & practical.
...and then there's the classic 1950s atomic zig-zag coat rack. We've had lots of these and grab them whenever we see them - they're always really popular with our customers.
And last but not least, the teak drinks trolley that the items are sitting on.
This is a lovely piece of furniture dating from the 1960s. It has the 'Remploy' label to the base.
It's got a great look, it's useful and is in excellent condition. Did we say we were trying to be strict with ourselves?!
