It’s the start of a new year… so we’re starting a new alphabet blog series.

We picked up this fabulous stainless steel tea set over the holiday period – so ‘A’ just had to be for ‘Arne’… Arne Jacobsen that is.

He’s one of the great designers of the 20th century – and is the man responsible for designing this set.

It was manufactured by Stelton of Denmark in the 1960s.  The various pieces are unused in their boxes… and retain their original labels to the underside.

The Cylinda-line brochures (of which the set is part) were inside the pots.

The range comprises a variety of tablewares including tea & coffee sets, salt & pepper pots, toast racks, sauce boats, serving dishes, coasters, cocktail mixers, ice buckets etc.

In fact, we sold the Cylinda-line ice bucket on the website last year.

The collection is beautifully made, very functional and looks fantastic too!

It was awarded the id Prize in 1967 by the Danish Society of Industrial Design and the International Design Award 1968 by the American Institute of Interior Designers.

A really great find to start the new year!

We spent a splendid few hours at the launch of the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. This year, it’s being held in Manchester city centre at Spinningfields.

There are almost 150 stands featuring the work of top class designer-makers from as far afield as Cornwall, Bristol, Argyll, London… with a strong representation from Greater Manchester and the North West. There was a huge turnout of visitors – many bagging themselves some fabulous early Christmas presents (for friends, family & themselves!).

We couldn’t blog about absolutely all the craftspeople there, so here’s a bit about some of the ones who especially caught our eye…

We were both really taken by these delicate and tactile hand-thrown porcelain vessels from Belfast-based Derek Wilson Ceramics. His display was the epitome of pared back, understated loveliness!

Adelle has a soft spot for colourful & playful jewellery like these felt pieces from Lynsey Walters…

…and a well-known penchant for vintage and vintage inspired handbags & purses!

These ones above are from Monica Boxley who, as well as using original vintage fabrics, makes beautiful handmade leather handbags inspired by a 1950s one belonging to her mother. It’s named the Marianne in homage.

As we’re on the subject of bags & purses, here are some lovely natural linen examples below from Teresa Green who makes an array of goods using textiles that she designs & hand prints.

If you’re a regular reader of our blog posts, you’ll know that we love pottery. The timeless slipware made by Hannah McAndrew is just the kind of thing that gets us excited.

Her pieces would sit equally comfortably in both an ultra modern pad as well as well as an antique furnished country cottage.

There’s another Hannah exhibiting who’s work we’ve known & loved for a very long time. She’s Hannah Nunn, a lighting designer based a 10-minute drive away from us in Hebden Bridge.

If you’re ever in the area, her shop Radiance is in Hebden town centre. If not, she also sells online.

Ruth Green Design had a lovely display of eye-catching silk screen prints.

In addition to screen prints she has a lovely selection of linocuts and oil on paper works available on her website.

Tricia Needham is another screen printer whose work caught our attention. She makes these tea cosies as well as cushions, bags, scarves and ties (seen adorning the neck of Jon Snow no less!).

One stand that was getting a lot of attention from visitors on the night was Ingrid Wagner‘s…

Ingrid was encouraging people to try their hand at knitting with her giant needles and huge balls of wool & fabric. Ingrid in fact broke the world record last year for ‘extreme knitting’ – using needles three and a half metres long!

The Fair’s on until Sunday 25th October so get down there, it’s well worth a visit!

We’re excited to announce that we’ve just added an Amazon a-store to the H is for Home website.

It’s full of books & magazines that we find inspirational, informative or both. We’ve divided them into sections such as Guides to vintage collecting, 1950s design, Pottery & ceramics and Interior & style magazines.

Link to H is for Home bookshop (UK)

Link to H is for Home bookshop (US)

Come & have a browse!

We’ve had a very nice mention in the January 2009 edition of Grand Designs magazine which came out this week.

The article’s called Last Orders and H is for Home is featured amongst their 50 favourite websites – with emphasis on websites for those late Christmas shopping ideas.

They highlighted a vintage 1960s tomato red Cathrineholm enamel coffeepot.

So it’s thanks to Grand Designs – we were really pleased to be featured as we’re big fans of both the magazine and the television programme.

We’ve had another lovely mention in the press – we’re in this month’s Fabric Magazine. It’s a London-based, monthly glossy that specialises in the capital city’s properties as well as features on interiors, travel, health, beauty & style, food & eating out. Take a look at the clipping below!

Thanks to them for their coverage and thanks to all of you out there for your continued support and feedback.

We picked up this fabulous coffee set last weekend.

That made our minds up about what L should be for!

Danish company Lundtofte produced high quality, stainless steel pieces – predominantly kitchen & dining wares, but also some decorative household objects.

They used top quality materials and manufacturing techniques – stainless steel often combined with teak and rosewood.

There are some fantastic, mid-century modern designs to be found by designers such as Tias Eckhoff, Eric Herlow and Lone Sachs.

We have a few examples of Lundtofte for sale at the moment at H is for Home- have a look!

Additional image credits
modcats.com
Vintage retro
Modernity
Yahoo Japan (kealoha)

The kitchen is probably our favourite room in the house. We love spending time in here – cooking, chatting or having a big mug of tea after a long dog walk.

We have the main wall painted a zingy tangerine. It’s bright & lively in the summer but also gives a warm cosy feel when the nights draw in. We used to have it painted a fresh apple green but this felt a bit cold in the winter, so we had to get the brushes back out.

The orange also works well with the stainless steel and various shades within the stone tiled splash-back.

The centre of the room is filled with a large, old, beech baker’s table which serves as our main seating & eating area – also a very useful extra work surface.

On the opposite wall to the work units & cooker is a stone fireplace. This would once have housed the original kitchen range.

The chimney has not gone to waste however, with the cast iron stove chuffing away on chilly nights. On the ceiling above this stove we have a slatted drying rack – perfect for hanging washing on cold, rainy days.

The graphic 1960s street scene is by artist Ken Law… and on the stone ledge sit various vintage pottery plates including Poole and Royal Copenhagen. Mixing old & new is a recurring theme throughout our house.

We like the blend of rustic pieces such as the baker’s table, butcher’s block and spoon rack with the modern stainless steel and downlighting.

Both being former chefs, we like to fill the kitchen with practical (and preferably good looking) equipment.

Objects from the 1950s, 60s & 70s seem to fit in well, helping to tie it all together.

Vintage kitchen enamel and ceramics are a particular passion of ours – pots, pans, storage jars etc. Hornsea, Denby, Cathrineholm, Rorstrand, Figgjo Flint, Arabia, Dansk Designs, Le Creuset are just a few of the names we look for…

…and then there are the cookbooks – don’t get us started on those!

Unfortunately the pre-Christmas launch we were hoping for didn’t come to pass. we’ve been doing a bit more tweaking and reckon there’s going to be around a month’s ‘slippage’. So once the Christmas & New Year frivolities and festivities have died down, January should finally see the H is for Home website go live!

We’ve been keeping busy in the meantime though, to prove it, here’s a collage we put together of some of the items that will soon be up for sale.

Christmas & New Year greetings to everyone!