Posts Tagged ‘1950s’

Forthcoming Attractions: Early January 2012

Friday, January 6th, 2012

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collection of midcentury modern and vintage items including West German pottery, orange cased glass vase, orange desk lamp, teak lamp base with fibreglass shade and teak drinks trolley

We bought these items this week – most of them from one local contact actually. It’s quite a mid century modern collection!

collection of midcentury modern and vintage items including West German pottery vase, Dumler and Breiden bowl, orange cased glass vase, orange desk lamp, teak lamp base with fibreglass shade, Scandinavian teak mirror, atomic coat rack, stacking Tupperware containers, stainless steel vases and snack tray and teak drinks trolley

Two lovely bits of German pottery for starters – they’re both by Dumler & Breiden. We love the colour contrast and striking repeat pattern of the bowl. The vase has a very distinctive form similar to another piece we’ve got. The combination of thick, textured glaze to the sides and smooth vibrant orange glaze highlighting the holes & vase rim is very effective. We’re trying to be quite strict with ourselves these days, but that’s probably a keeper!

vintage Fat Lava West German vase with double holes produced by Dumler & Breiden

And yet more flashes of orange with the desk lamp & cased glass vase. The lamp, dating from the 60s/70s, is adjustable and has a label for  ’1001 Lamps Ltd’ of London. The vase is unmarked, but dates from the same period.

vintage teak lamp base with fibreglass shade

There’s another nice table lamp in view, this one being teak with a fibreglass shade. The base looks very Danish.

collection of midcentury modern and vintage items including Scandinavian teak mirror, atomic coat rack, stacking Tupperware containers, stainless steel vases and snack tray and teak drinks trolley

And, staying with the Scandinavian theme, we have some interesting stainless steel pieces. The snack tray is Danish and quite an unusual shape; the pair of matching vases were made in Sweden. There’s some lovely Tupperware spice pots too – both colourful & practical.

…and then there’s the classic 1950s atomic zig-zag coat rack. We’ve had lots of these and grab them whenever we see them – they’re always really popular with our customers.

vintage 1950s teak drinks trolley

And last but not least, the teak drinks trolley that the items are sitting on.

vintage 1950s teak drinks trolley

This is a lovely piece of furniture dating from the 1960s. It has the ‘Remploy’ label to the base.

detail of the bottom of a vintage 1950s teak drinks trolley

It’s got a great look, it’s useful and is in excellent condition. Did we say we were trying to be strict with ourselves?!

Life’s a Beach!

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

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vintage beach bag made of bright yellow 1950s towelling fabric with beach umbrella and male & female swim-suited figures pattern

It’s pouring with rain as we write this, so not exactly sunbathing weather, but we had to highlight this fantastic vintage bag we found this week.

detail of vintage beach bag made of bright yellow 1950s towelling fabric with beach umbrella and male & female swim-suited figures pattern

The bag is ideal for the beach – big enough for your towel, phone, purse, suntan lotion, book, swimming cossie & sunglasses.

And the fabric… how perfect!

detail of vintage beach bag made of bright yellow 1950s towelling fabric with beach umbrella and male & female swim-suited figures pattern with vintage Biba sunglasses sitting on top

And, speaking of sunglasses – we bought this vintage Biba pair at the same market a few weeks earlier. There’s been quite a delay with them reaching the website as Adelle hasn’t stopped wearing them!

detail of vintage 1960s op art patterned inflatable li-lo detail of vintage 1960s op art patterned inflatable li-lo

Two fab beach items that are actually available – both from the 60s/70s. The first is a real eye popping airbed/lilo in shades of orange. The second is a nifty drawstring bag that can be inflated to form a pillow.

detail of vintage 1960s op art patterned inflatable li-lo detail of vintage 1960s op art patterned inflatable li-lo

It’s not quite Autumn yet, so there should be a few more beach days left this year!

Forthcoming Attractions: late August 2011

Friday, August 26th, 2011

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vintage "mini-max" first aid tin and vintage 1950s drinking glasses and chequered pot stand

Here’s a taster of the things we picked up recently.

For starters there’s a very nice wall mountable first aid tin – these are always popular – and this one has just the perfect amount of wear.

Moving onto tin number 2 ( with the ‘private detective’ decoration ). It’s called ‘The Inside Job’ and originally contained a decorating kit – paintbrush, sponges, paint scrapers, sanding sheets etc. Inside job – geddit?

group of vintage items including wooden bedside cabinet, blue Olympia "Splendid 99" typewriter, boxed Ronson "Escort 2000" hairdryer, vintage "mini-max" first aid tin, writing slate, blackboard on an easel, vintage 1950s drinking glasses and chequered pot stand

The 1950s wooden cabinet is a lovely little piece that we’ve put up for sale in Picture House Antiques.

vintage 1950s drinking glasses with hash decoration

Vintage drinking glasses like these are always sought after – especially when in perfect condition – and in complete sets.

These must have been put away in a cupboard about 50 years ago – to emerge, blinking into the daylight last week!

vintage blue Olympia "Splendid 99" typewriter with boxed Ronson "Escort 2000" hairdryer in the background

vintage blue Olympia "Splendid 99" typewriter

Although they’ve been superseded by modern technology, colourful typewriters like this have devoted fans. This Olympia model comes with its original leatherette carry case.

vintage boxed Ronson "Escort 2000" hairdryer

Another item that has more modern counterparts is this 1960s/70s hairdryer – and this one’s a mobile model!

It’s boxed & appears pretty much unused. It’s Mary Quant style print cap is fab!

vintage writing slate, blackboard on an easel, and bamboo walking cane

And finally – back to school with these chalkboards and teachers cane. The board on an easel would add a vintage touch to a nursery or child’s bedroom – the old writing slate is great for hanging in a kitchen and writing your shopping list/reminders.

Bookmarks: V & A Pattern

Friday, June 10th, 2011

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V & A Fifties and Pop Patterns books

One little blog about two little books.

covers of V & A Fifties and Pop Patterns books covers of V & A Fifties and Pop Patterns books

Today’s Bookmarks post features V&A The Fifties and Pop Patterns

page from V & A Fifties Pattern book by Sue Pritchard

With less than a hundred pages each, they’re small – but perfectly formed.

vintage 1950s pattern illustration in blue with a Venetian scene

Each book has an introductory overview of its subject – prominent designers, artistic and social influences etc

vintage Calyx pattern designed by Lucienne Day in the 1950s

Written by Sue Pritchard in The Fifties and by Oriole Cullen in Pop Patterns.

Malaga pattern wallpaper sample produced by Palladio Wallpapers in 1955

Concise & informed  – they’re perfectly scaled to match the books.

vintage patterns designed by Marion Mahler for David Whitehead Ltd in the 1950s

The introductions are followed by plenty of illustrated examples…

Malaga pattern wallpaper sample produced by Palladio Wallpapers in 1955

…all taken from the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Collections.

vintage Springboard pattern designed by Lucienne Day in 1954

Each book manages to pack in about 60 of them!

page from V & A Pop Patterns book by Oriole Cullen

These fantastic designs were used in textiles, wallpapers and home furnishings.

vintage numbers furnishing fabrics designed by Annikki & Ilmari Tapiovaara in the 1960s

Some of these patterns have actually been re-released of late – Calyx by Lucienne Day for example and Marian Mahler’s Mobiles.

vintage Chuck Berry and Marilyn patterns designed by Christopher Snow in the 1960s

For others, you will have to hunt down vintage examples – not an easy task!

vintage Wacky Packages patterned fabric designed for VIP Fabrics Inc in the 1960s

The books also provide lists of further reading if your appetites have been whetted.

vintage T-shirt prints designed by Marshall Lester for Scott Lester Ltd in the 1960s

Each book comes with an accompanying disc of 70 high resolution digital images of vintage patterns that you can use (with permission if they are to be used commercially).

Once again, both books are available from the H is for Home A-stores:

page from V & A Pop Patterns book by Oriole Cullen showing CD containing high resolution pattern images

They’re a good, inexpensive introduction to the subject…highly recommended.

[Many thanks to V & A Publishing for supplying these review copies]

Forthcoming Attractions: Late May 2011

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

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new H is for Home stock items including yellow 1950s leatherette footstool, vintage Chad Valley globe, Kirkham Pottery salt & pepper and preserve pot and other vintage items

More fab purchases… and quite an eyeful of colour!

collection of new H is for Home stock items including a Palissy Kalibar coffee pot, child's vintage tin pencil case, Daisey Dairy milk bottle and red enamel coffeepot

No auctions this week, so everything was found on our market trawls.

A range of styles from the 50s, 60s & 70s – but you can imagine them all working together in the same vintage lover’s home.

trio of new H is for Home stock items; orange vintage plastic Gustavsberg record holder, orange mantle clock and vintage black & white ice bucket

Items include some lovely Kirkham Pottery with its distinctive spots & stripes, a bright orange record holder by Gustavsberg of Sweden, tin desk globe by Chad Valley and an amazing leatherette stool made by Sherborne.

trio of new H is for Home stock items; Kirkham Pottery salt & pepper and preserve pot on a yellow 1950s leatherette footstool

The stool was looking tired & grubby when we picked it up, but a bit of TLC has had amazing results.

new H is for Home stock items; yellow 1950s leatherette footstool and vintage Chad Valley tin globe

Other pieces just needed a quick wash and were good to go. They’ll all be hitting our shop very soon.

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