Archive for the ‘illustration’ Category

Gail Kelly calendar

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

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black & white cover of Gail Kelly's 2013 calendar featuring a linocut oak tree and acorns

Yes, it’s March, but we’ve only just got round to getting ourselves a 2013 calendar. We have high standards & requirements, you see, when it comes to choosing our annual calendar – it needs to be long & narrow as it has to fit the little strip of wall just inside the front door…

Gail Kelly's 2013 calendar hanging in our porch with white jug of yellow tulips and small vintage milk bottles

…it also needs to be attractive – no fluffy, cutesy pictures of animals much as we love them; no pop stars (Justin Bieber or Cliff Richard just won’t cut the mustard!); no artistic/moody/atmospheric shots of castles/ruins/seascapes/mountains; no humour (who wants to hear the same joke every day for a month?). We trawled Etsy, Folksy and Notonthehighstreet and eventually came across this Gail Kelly calendar.

wild cherry tree black & white linocut illustration beech tree black & white linocut illustration
willow tree black & white linocut illustration apple tree black & white linocut illustration

We first fell in love with Gail’s linocut illustrations when we saw her at the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate about 5 years ago. We’ve been stocking her tree greeting cards at H is for Home ever since!

Miroslav Sasek matches

Monday, October 8th, 2012

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detail from long vintage match book made in Finland for Liberty's and illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Showing an illustration of a man being driven by a chauffeur in a Rolls Royce and a motorbike with a side car

Here’s something for all you Miroslav Sasek fans out there – there won’t be many of these left in circulation.

long vintage match book made in Finland for Liberty's and illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Showing illustrations of different vehicles such as a London cab, motorcycle with side car and chauffeur driven Rolls Royce

It’s a vintage book of matches with cover design by the famous illustrator – unused and in pristine condition – what a rare survivor!!

detail from long vintage match book made in Finland for Liberty's and illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Showing an illustration of a London black cab

Sasek depicts 1950s/60s London traffic in his unmistakable style…

red interior of a long vintage match book made in Finland for Liberty's and illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Showing completely unused black matches with red heads

… and it’s a very long match book – 32cm, so plenty of room for Sasek’s wonderful drawings.

detail of the spine of a long vintage match book made in Finland for Liberty's and illustrated by Miroslav Sasek. Showing the text "150 crown matches made in Finland Designed for Liberty of London by M Sasek

They were manufactured in Finland for Liberty of London – just gorgeous!!

Marble Menagerie

Friday, July 20th, 2012

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vintage Merit "Marble Fun" game with illustrations by Kenneth Townsend from his Menagerie range

We bought this vintage marble game last week. It’s a simple little game which involves rolling marbles down the wooden shoot aiming at archways with different scores. We’ve done a little research and found that the game is called “bridgeboard”.

vintage Merit "Marble Fun" game with illustrations by Kenneth Townsend from his Menagerie range

What makes this version extra special are the fabulous illustations by Kenneth Townsend.

monkey detail from a vintage Merit "Marble Fun" game with illustrations by Kenneth Townsend from his Menagerie range

The animals will look very familiar to fans of the artist’s “Menagerie” tile series that we’ve blogged about before.

Lefor Openo

Friday, July 13th, 2012

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vintage biscuit tin with illustration by Lefor-Openo of a flower seller girl with her market stall

We picked up this rather lovely biscuit tin this week. It dates from the 1960s and is on just the right side of kitsch for us.

detail from a vintage biscuit tin with illustration by Lefor-Openo of a flower seller girl with her market stall

The tin was produced in England, but features a very cute, Continental flower girl – she must be in Britain though, she’s selling her wares at 2 shillings & sixpence a bunch!

We’ve long admired the work of Lefor Openo – the French design duo of Marie-Claire Lefort & Marie-Francine Oppeneau. They’re mainly known for their poster designs – lots of them featuring beautiful mademoiselles – and this girl is definitely one of theirs! One of their most famous illustrations must be the sultry Francia, a Gitanes “fumeureuse”

vintage Gitanes advertising poster designed by Lefor Openo
photo credit: Lamarde

There are always Lefor Openo posters, postcards and other illustrations available on eBay – and at very affordable prices too!

M & S Packaging

Friday, April 27th, 2012

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selection of Marks and Spencer food items with special Diamond Jubilee and London Olympic 2012 packaging

M & S continues to produce some fantastic packaging. We bought a few items last week – and thought we’d share photos with you in case you haven’t seen any of it.

Marks and Spencer New York pepperoni pizza box illustrated with characters of a cop and Texan tourist wearing a stetson

We’ll start with this pizza box for the pastrami pizza – with its New York cop and stetson-wearing tourist.

detail from a Marks and Spencer New York pepperoni pizza box showing a cartoon illustration of a cop detail from a Marks and Spencer New York pepperoni pizza box showing a cartoon illustration of a Texan tourist wearing a stetson and a camera around his neck

The characters are very reminiscent of Miroslav Sasek book illustrations from the 1950s & 60s.

Marks and Spencer chocolate teacake packaging decorated with illustrations of British bobby, Union Jack flags, school children, birds and bunting

The other products we picked up have much more of a British feel – perfect for this Diamond Jubilee & London Olympic year.

detail from Marks and Spencer chocolate teacake packaging decorated with illustrations of birds and bunting

These chocolate teacakes are covered with Union Jack bunting & flags. What does that pigeon know that we don’t?

detail from Marks and Spencer chocolate teacake packaging decorated with illustrations of a British bobby, Union Jack flag and bunting

Next up we have the old red telephone box.

Marks and Spencer shortbread tin in the shape of and decorated as a red British phone box with figures including a British Bobby, city gent and punk

It’s harking back to the days when telephone box queues were a common sight – pre mobile phone days – the variety of characters each waiting their turn.

detail from a Marks and Spencer shortbread tin in the shape of and decorated as a red British phone box showing the figure of a city gent

We just love the punk rocker blowing his bubblegum.

detail from a Marks and Spencer shortbread tin in the shape of and decorated as a red British phone box showing the figure of a punk

It’s a close run thing, but our favourite item of the batch is probably the biscuit tin below. Again, the artwork is very Sasek inspired – with a bit of Bill Charmatz thrown in.

limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games decorated with illustrations of London and other British landmarks

The design a real classic with scenes of the British Isles to the sides and traditional London sights to the lid.

detail from a limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games showing an illustrations of Green Park detail from a limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games showing an illustrations of the Mall

Also, the tin will last years and can be used over & over again.

lid from a limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games decorated with illustrations of London landmarks

It’s fantastic when you buy a useful & beautiful storage tin – crammed full of lovely biscuits that you just have to eat first!!