We’re saying a fond farewell to our gorgeous Stig Lindberg bowl in a few days. We bought it last year at auction and despite it being very tempting to keep hold of these items indefinitely, we have to make a living. So it’s up for sale!

It’s a stunning piece with blue band and black zig-zag design – hand decorated by Stig Lindberg for Gustavsberg of Sweden in the 1950s. Fully marked to the base with the artist’s distinctive markings.

We put most items on our own website, but we’ve decided to list this one on eBay. There are avid collectors of Scandinavian pottery from this era – and Stig Lindberg-designed examples in particular. It will reach a wide audience for collectors worldwide who are searching for him by name. If you’re a fellow fan, there’s still 4 days left of the auction.

We’ve enjoyed living with it for a while, but it’s just got a bid… so it looks like goodbye!

Following on from all the wonderful stuff in our recent Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair blog post, here’s some more hand crafted loveliness!

Justin’s brother, Damian is a very skilled potter and he dropped off some of his new designs on a recent visit.

Amongst them were these sweet espresso coffee mugs.

We love the tall narrow shape which still fits under most coffee machines and retains the heat of a small espresso very well.

He’s experimented with a few different glazes – various colours & textures – and they feel really good in the hand.

 Small certainly is beautiful!

If you’ve got any favourites or feedback please leave a comment here. We’ll be sure to pass them on – Damian’s always interested to hear what people think – especially about new ideas!

We posted a blog recently featuring the ‘love mug’ series produced by Hornsea Pottery in the 1970s.

The company is famous for their mugs – so we photographed a few more examples whilst we were sorting through our ‘Hornsea box’.

They feature a vast array of designs and commemorate all manner of events.

The love mugs were the work of Kenneth Townsend, but the main name associated with Hornsea Pottery is John Clappison. He’s certainly the name that collectors look out for.

Some examples are quite rare and attract strong prices.

They’re now often kept safe as display pieces and you can understand why. The company has long since closed down, so the number of surviving pieces can only decrease.

You have to be quite brave to use them for your everyday brew…

…but if you do, they’re sure to give you a bit of pleasure with every sip.

Justin has his Aries star sign mug. He doesn’t take any notice of his horoscope, but he loves this fabulous design… and being reminded of all of his positive traits at the start of each day!!

Any of you vintage fans born in 1979?  This could be the perfect thing for you.

It’s one of a series of ceramic date plates produced annually by Arabia of Finland.

Designed by Raija Uosikkinen, they take their inspiration from the Kalevala – the epic national saga of Finland.

Here’s an extract from the English translation of Rune 33 from which this plate draws its reference:

From a tree the raven answered:
“O thou little silver buckle,
Only son of old Kalervo,
Why art thou in evil humor,
Wherefore sad in thy demeanor?
Take a young shoot from the thicket,
Take a birch-rod from the valley,
Drive thy herd across the lowlands,
Through the quicksands of the marshes;
To the wolves let one half wander,
To the bear-dens, lead the other;
Sing the forest wolves together,
Sing the bears down from the mountains,
Call the wolves thy little children,
And the bears thy standard-bearers;
Drive them like a cow-herd homeward,
Drive them home like spotted cattle,
Drive them to thy master’s milk-yards;
Thus thou wilt repay the hostess
For her malice and derision.”

You don’t have to be born in 1979… they were made from the mid 1970s to the late 1990s. That gives a good span of potentially significant years – birthdays, anniversaries etc.

And don’t mind if there isn’t a special date to be marked… the artwork is so fabulous, they’re covetable for the patterns alone.

Having said that, there’s sure to be a few completists out there who are just going to have to have the full set – and we wouldn’t blame you!!

We spent Friday evening at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Spinningfields, Manchester city centre…

…and a very pleasant evening it was too.

The fair expanded into two pavilions for its second year.

A great mix of ceramics, glass, metal, paper and textiles… from both new exhibitors and favourites from last year.

There were so many great stalls – we’ve just selected a few that caught our eye.

We’ll start with Jane Blease Design.

She uses plywood and threaded cotton to produce artworks, light shades and jewellery.

It’s striking from a distance, then fascinating in the detail.

A piece of Jane’s work was temptation number one and we’d only been in the marquee for a few seconds!

Moving along to &made,

Andrea Lord produces lovely hand-sewn pieces…

…her items simply & beautifully displayed.

Cushions, wall hangings and rows of gorgeous cacti pin cushions in their little terracotta pots!

We mentioned Derek Wilson Ceramics in our post from last year’s fair.

His stand, filled with his beautiful and delicate porcelain, stopped us in our tracks again…

….elegant, understated simplicity.

Ruth Green Design has proved another favourite with our blog readers – and a shot of her prints always rides high in our Flickr photo viewings.

We lingered at her stall for a good while.

Her prints, sold in limited edition runs, look fabulous hanging all together.

The Pear Tree, one of her  new designs, was another strong temptation!

You can always guarantee a striking display from Hannah Nunn’s Radiance Lighting…

…the warm cosy glow of her beautiful, nature-inspired shades…

…the designs hand cut from paper and then laminated.

Phew… time for a pit stop… a sit down with a glass of wine!!

First-time exhibitor Ken Eardley made the long drive up from Brighton where he has his studio.

His range of striking pottery with stylised trees, flowers & leaves was a real show stopper.

Functional and beautiful – always a winning combination.

No doubt his work will be starring in lots of interiors magazines in the future!

The natural landscape strongly inspires & influences the work of enameller Janine Partington.

Trees, flowers, seed heads, birds and animals.

She produces enamel panels, small sculptures and jewellery.

We’d love to stroll through a magical forest of her making.

Kent-based Maxine Sutton plays with imagery of familiar everyday domestic objects and the natural world.

Incorporating them into embroidered and printed textiles to produce a range of interior products.

There were lots of eye-catching items on her stand.

We’ve got a standard lamp that would happily accommodate one of her large shades… and we just loved the coffee pot/cafetiere cosies with their Scandinavian feel.

The work of Sarra Kate is bright and effervescent – just like Sarra Kate herself!

Her stand called out to us from a long way away.

She starts her pieces by making colourful collages which are then laser printed onto textiles and paper…

…which go into making wall hangings, cushions and cards.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Hannah McAndrew, another of our favourites from last year.

This is where we finally gave into temptation.

We admired her stand last year, filled with its mediæval-inspired slipware pottery.

This year we just had to take a few of her pieces home!

We’ve concentrated on featuring homes and interiors products, but there was also lots & lots of fantastic fashion & jewellery – and if we featured any more this post would turn into a novel!

All the makers will be packing up and making their way home as we write this… so be sure to put the fair in your diary for next year!

After Justin’s recent spate of bringing young ladies home, I thought it should be my turn!

I’ve just picked up these two lovely old boys.

They’re Chelsea Pensioners, and are the newest addition to my collection of Kenneth Townsend tiles.

All these examples are from a ‘London‘ series produced in the 1960s.

It’s not been long since we mentioned Kenneth Townsend tiles – having recently blogged about his ‘Menagerie‘ series. But we don’t need much of an excuse to show off his work!

This is our 100th post – and we’re turning to one of our favourites – artist & illustrator, Kenneth Townsend. In particular we’re focusing on his ‘Menagerie‘ series of tiles. These tiles received a Design Centre award.

The ‘Menagerie’ series featured over 20 different animal designs. He also produced the ‘Horoscope’ and ‘London’ tile series.

A new Flickr Group celebrating the works of Kenneth Townsend has just been formed. You’re welcome to join and add your own images or just come and have a look!

If you’re interested in starting your own collection, they’re often available in vintage stores. They also come up for sale on eBay quite regularly.  Have a look at seller simoncurtis. He’s had quite a few of these tiles for sale recently – and has kindly allowed us to use some of his photos in this blog post.

We added this clown moneybox to the Child’s Play section of our website recently.

We know that not everyone likes clowns – it’s actually a recognised fear, Coulrophobia – but this is a cute little fella!

The clown is one of a number of eye-catching moneyboxes produced by Carltonware in the 1960s. There’s also a princess, pirate, cat, owl, policeman, soldier, train and Noah’s Ark to name but a few.

If you’d like to see some more examples, have a look at the Lovers of Carlton Ware Flickr group.

Briglin Pottery was founded in 1948 in London’s West End by Brigitte Goldschmidt and Eileen Lewenstein.

They produced a variety of handmade & decorated pottery items such as vases, lamp bases, money boxes and tableware.

The pottery has characteristic subtle, natural tones – oatmeal, terracotta & chocolate.

A wax resist technique was often used in the glazing process, producing a wonderfully tactile result – alternating coarse and smooth surfaces.

We really love the recurring daisy / sunflower motif – also the leaves on stem and striped designs.

We’re currently fighting over this wonderful big striped mug. To keep the peace, the deal is – if you make the brew, you get the mug!!

If we’ve spiked your interest you’ll find a lot more information on the Briglin Pottery and Pottery Studio websites. There’s also a book on the subject available on our Amazon a-store

A new cake has been made for the tin by the kettle – a rather nice chocolate sponge cake with a coconut chocolate topping.

The recipe is taken from ‘Delia Smith’s Cookery Course Part Two‘ book. It’s based on her quick & easy ‘All-in-one sponge’ recipe:

• 4 oz/110 g self raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 oz/110 g soft margarine, at room temperature
• 4 oz/110 g caster sugar
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs
• 2-3 drops vanilla essence

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3/325ºF/170ºC

Lightly grease a 7-inch/18 cm sponge tin and line its base with greaseproof paper (also greased) or silicone paper.

Take a large roomy mixing bowl, and sift flour and baking powder into it, holding the sieve high to give the flour a good airing. Then simply add all the other ingredients to the bowl, and whisk them – preferably with an electric hand whisk – till thoroughly combined. If the mixture doesn’t drop off a wooden spoon easily when tapped on the side of the bowl, then add 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of tap-warm water, and whisk again.

Add to the prepared tin, level off and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for about 30 minutes. When cooked leave it in the tin for only about 30 seconds, then loosen the edge by sliding a palette knife all round and turn it out onto a wire cooling rack.

To finish:

Melt 100 g milk chocolate in a bowl over hot water (bain marie). Add 1 tbs dessicated coconut to the chocolate and spread over the top. Finish with a further sprinkle.

It can be tweeked with all kinds of other flavours, fillings & toppings – vanilla, ginger, dried fruit etc. We also like the look of this new version that Delia has on her own website

If you prefer a thicker cake with a middle layer of butter cream, jam etc, just double the quantities, and use two tins.

It’s delicious – give it a go next time you have a few minutes to spare – and enjoy it with a nice cuppa!