We recently blogged about the first edition of a new magazine devoted to all things mid century modern.

It’s an era close to our hearts – we like to intersperse pieces amongst our rustic & country furniture – it’s a look we love.

If you’re fellow fans, here’s some of our current MCM stock.

Just click on each image for more details!

We mentioned buying this Festival of Britain brochure in our last blog – Five Flea Finds.

We’ve really enjoyed flicking through it.

Quite a few people have expressed an interest, so we thought we’d share some of its contents with you.

The Festival was held in 1951 – it celebrated the centenary of The Great Exhibition held in 1851 – but was also intended to showcase Britain in the mid twentieth century.

What an exciting event in must have been – with the new wave of optimism after the Second World War.

Exhibitions were held around the country, the main site occupying a position on the South Bank in London which was completely redeveloped.

The Festival had a great influence on architecture, interior and product design in the years that followed.

The brochure contains about 100 pages in total.

It highlights the main attractions – exhibition spaces & their contents, new structures (including the Royal Festival Hall and the famous Skylon), the designers involved etc.

As is often the case with publications from this era, there are some fantastic advertisements too…

…bold, colourful and forward-looking.

The brochure is a must have item for Festival of Britain collectors – but also of broader interest to fans of modernism & mid twentieth century design.

This wonderful vintage starburst clock was our ‘star buy’ at yesterday’s auction.

Also referred to as sunburst clocks, this one has a brushed metal face with a radial pattern of wooden star/sun rays.

Produced by the very good maker Seth Thomas in the 1960s, it wasn’t cheap – but it’s a great example. The condition is superb and it’s keeping perfect time.

The clock seems very happy in our bedroom. We know we shouldn’t be keeping shop stock, but it won’t do any harm to look at it for a while.

The modern, stylised shape and brushed metal is softened by the warm wood, providing a great link between old & new when going for that eclectic look.

We already have an example of this type of clock in our top floor lounge/bedroom.

It dates from the same period, but this one is made by Metamec.

This one was also bought as shop stock – two years ago!!

We bought a large quantity of vintage posters at auction recently…

… all the work of Frederic Henrion.

They have a wide range of dates and subject matter.

These examples were reprinted for an exhibition at Staffordshire Polytechnic in the 1980s. The Polytechnic was the first place to offer a graphic design course largely based upon the influence of Henrion.

They were reproduced in limited edition runs and many of them are actually signed by the artist.

F H K Henrion OBE was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1914. After studying & working in Paris, he emigrated to England in 1939, adopting British nationality in 1946.

During the 1940s & 50s, he worked for advertising agencies and publishers – and was Art Editor of Contact and Futura magazines. In 1951 he established the design consultancy, Henrion Design Associates.

He produced designs for numerous organisations such as the Festival of Britain, London Transport, IBM, KLM, BEA, BOAC, the British Ministry of Information, the US Office of War Information, Olivetti and Tate & Lyle.

He was art director at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London during the 1950s. The ICA was a platform for the emergence of The Independent Group – and for the development of a widespread pop sensibility during the 1960s.

His work often used elements of photo montage and collage. He pioneered the use of surrealist juxtapositions in the language of advertising and visual communications in Britain.

He was a respected spokesperson for his profession and his work won many international awards. He was awarded an OBE for his contributions to the Festival of Britain pavilions.

He was an influential teacher who lectured at the Royal College of Art (1955-65); was President of Alliance Graphique Internationale and Master of Faculty at Royal Designers for Industry (1972-73); and was Leader of the Faculty of Visual Communication at the London College of Printing (1976-79). In 1982 he became consultant at Henrion, Lund and Schmidt – corporate identity specialists.

The FHK Henrion Archive & Research Library can be found at University of Brighton, Faculty of Arts’ Design Archives. A book of his designs (one of the popular Antique Collectors’ Club series) has recently been published and is available at Amazon UK & Amazon USA

We’ve started a Flickr group for sharing images of Henrion’s work – have a look and share any that you have!

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!!

On the same day we bought our vintage Anglepoise lamp, we bought this fabulous 1960s radiogram.

We’d actually  been on the look out for an amplifier to go with a record deck we had – but suddenly, as bidding was about to stop at £30, we couldn’t resist this beauty!

It’s a Garrard Dynatron – radio, record player and speakers – housed in a teak cabinet.

Not only does will it provide music in  lounge – we think it’s a great looking piece of furniture. Streamlined & good proportions, it fits the space exactly – the teak is a lovely warm colour too.

Justin was very impressed with this particular feature… the slow, soft-close lid – no danger of records jumping.

And most importantly – it sounds good too!

Our last post featured an interesting ‘industrial design’ coffee pot / percolator. It’s still unidentified!

Here’s another great example of industrial design… bought at auction last week.

Unlike the coffee pot, we know a lot about this item.

It’s a classic Anglepoise lamp designed by George Carwardine. This is the ’1227′ model licensed to Herbert Terry & Sons – the ’2 tiered base’ version produced from 1938 until 1969.

This is a fantastic early example with original paint finish, wiring and Bakelite switch. In superb condition and still fully working.

A design classic indeed – here’s a more detailed history from the Design Museum. and a newspaper article from 2009 about its reissue .

We need a little help – who designed this?

We bought this really interesting coffee percolator at a market last week.

We think it’s a very good example of domestic industrial design.

It probably dates from between the 1920s and the 1940s…

It’s made from steel with Bakelite finials.

It gives us a few clues – such as registered design marks – and the number ’37′ to the base.

It’s very reminiscent of Naum Slutky and Bauhaus design… have you got any thoughts?

Marks and Spencer are selling these Christmas biscuit selections…

…with gorgeous tins designed by Sanna Annuka.

Future classics with their vintage Scandinavian folk art feel.

She was responsible for this Swiss biscuit tin last Christmas – it’s currently changing hands for £15-£20… without the biscuits!

We’ve bought ours early this year – they’re sure to be popular again.

We’ll be giving a few tins as presents – but some will have to go under our own tree!!

They’ve also got a butter shortbread tin with a sweet little Scottie dog on the front.

We recently posted a blog featuring illustrations by Miroslav Sasek – we don’t know who designed this tin – but it also has a vintage feel is very reminiscent of his work.

Here are the actual illustrations from the book…

…published in 1961.

It’s not only going to be a tin-tastic Christmas in our house – looks like it’s going to be biscuit-tastic too!

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!