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?
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.
click on image to enlarge
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!
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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!
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Viners is renowned for its high quality stainless steel products.
The company was founded in 1901 by Adolf Viener.
Sheffield is the home of British steel manufacturing and Viners grew into the biggest cutlery factory in the city.
Ruben Viner, one of the founder’s sons, became the firms driving force, and it really prospered in the 1960s.
This period saw our favourite range of products with wonderful shapes & textures – by designers such as Gerald Benney and Stuart Devlin. Even the packaging looked great!!
Their cutlery ranges from this era such as Mosaic, Shape and Sable are now much sought after.
Mosaic
Shape
Sable
The stainless steel was sometimes combined with woods such as rosewood and teak…
…as in this fabulous ice bucket…
…or these Polynesian teaspoons.
The company invested in a modern factory in Sheffield with subsidiaries in Ireland, France and Australia. Unfortunately, this major investment was to be the firm’s undoing. Crippling loan repayments at a time of stiff competition from cheaper, Far Eastern imports saw the family-run business close in 1982.
The brand is now owned by US-based Oneida, the world’s largest cutlery company.
There are some great vintage pieces out there – have a look at H is for Home’s current Viners pieces.
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We’re taking a look at utensils this week – those useful, kitchen tools from the humble wooden spoon to the wonderfully named kitchemajig.
No kitchen should be without a wooden spoon – preferably a few.
They come in a wide variety of sizes, have multiple uses, they don’t scratch pots & pans… and also develop a lovely character over years of use.
We keep ours in this lovely, old wooden rack…
… another potful next to the stove…
…and still more hanging from this ancient iron well hook.
It’s useful having them close at hand wherever we happen to be working in the kitchen. There’s always the perfect spoon for a particular job.
This one has such a wonderful patina that it’s now been retired from general use and sits happily on a shelf enjoying its life of leisure… with a pair of child’s antique wooden clogs for company!
Of course kitchen tools don’t stop with the wooden spoon… there are palette knives, ladles, forks, fish slices, whisks etc, etc, etc.
Some utensils are multi-functional like the aforementioned kitchemajig…
…others have very specific uses such as the tomato slicer, butter curler and pastry blender.
Do rolling pins count as utensils?
We think they probably do – made from wood, pottery, marble, or in the case of this Pyrex example, glass.
The heyday for utensils – well our favourite era at least – was the 1950s & 60s. Names such as Skyline, Prestige & Tala.
Chrome & stainless steel tools mounted on lovely painted wooden handles available in a rainbow of colours.
They’re a great way of adding a vintage touch to an otherwise contemporary kitchen. They look good in sets of the same colour…
…or mixed & matched.
We picked up this wonderful set recently – boxed and with its original hanging rack. One small problem though, someone was obviously in desperate need of the lipped, oval spoon… and removed it.
We’re now on a quest for a 50-year-old lipped spoon, in pristine condition, in the right colours – no easy task!
We’ve got boxes full of coffee services short of one cup, storage jars waiting for matching lids and cutlery sets missing the odd knife or teaspoon. It’s all a matter of keeping your eyes open and being patient.
We’re currently relishing reading through a huge pile of 1950s/60 Ideal Home magazines, they’re full of fantastic ads for furniture, fabrics and housewares, including the odd one for kitchen utensils…
…like these for Tala and Prestige.
By coincidence, just as we were writing this post, we sold this lovely Prestige set with their classic 1950s, diamond-patterned handles.
If you manage to find one that you love, a kitchen utensil is of those wonderful items that can give you a little bit of pleasure every time you use it – have you got a favourite?
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