Posts Tagged ‘1950s’

Forthcoming Attractions: May 2011

Friday, May 13th, 2011

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new items at H is for Home, May 2011 including vintage Arabia plate, 1950s aluminium flour, sugar and cereal storage tins, T G Green pottery storage jars and green pottery fish plate

Here are some of our favourite recent purchases – picked up at auction & flea markets over the past couple of weeks.

new items at H is for Home, May 2011 including vintage child's sewing machine in original box, Hornsea pottery owl mug and aluminium measuring cup

Items range from a 19th century country Windsor chair to 1970s alarm clock. There’s some lovely pottery including a large Arabia plate and 1950s handpainted pieces by Glyn Colledge. Also a nice selection of vintage kitchenalia and the best child’s sewing machine we’ve ever come across! For a full listing see below.

selection of new vintage items 1n the H is for Home shop

  1. antique stickback Windsor chair
  2. Campden Pottery dish decorated with an incised cockerel figure
  3. child’s 1950s Vulcan sewing machine
  4. trio of 1970s T G Green tea, coffee & sugar containers
  5. aluminium measuring cup
  6. wooden perpetual desk calendar
  7. Hornsea Pottery owl mug
  8. large Arabia plate designed by Raija Uosikkinen
  9. hand painted Glyn Colledge/Langley Pottery vase
  10. lemon yellow alarm clock
  11. vintage 1950s Tala aluminium flour, sugar and cereal canisters
  12. striped pottery oil/vinegar pot
  13. handmade Eldfast Hoganas Keramik fish plate
  14. hand painted Glyn Colledge/Denby Pottery atomic pin dish
  15. atomic, wall mountable wire plant pot holder

We’re hoping to make this a regular post. It will enable us preview items about to hit the shop – and also share with you photos of goodies that might just take that bit longer to be prised away.

Busy Bees!

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

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vintage milk jug designed by Kaj Franck and produced by Arabia of Finland

Yes, we know, it’s a picture of a cow jug  – but we’ve been very busy bees recently!

We had a lovely mention in the Guardian Weekend Magazine recently – and a frenzy  of orders, packing & posting followed.

sky blue vintage 1950s powder coated aluminium teapot vintage 1950s tea tin

It’s now calmed down a bit, and we’ve been back out buying new stock again.

set of four vintage teak candle holders set of vintage frosted jug and glasses

We’ve picked up some really great stuff and had a big listing session on Friday.

vintage pastry crimper vintage wall clock produced by Kienzle of Germany

We added items to most of our shop sections – these are some of our favourites!

Vintage Fabric Redux

Friday, March 25th, 2011

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collection of vintage 1950s fabric hanging on a washing line

 

We’ve just received another consignment of vintage fabrics from our long-time friend Shaun. They’re in pristine condition, but a bit musty – here’s a selection airing in the garden.

As with the last lot of vintage fabric, they’ve laid untouched in a warehouse for about 50 years. This batch includes short lengths, remnants, single curtains, cushion covers etc etc. Again they date from the 1950s/60s and are a mixture of abstract, atomic and florals.

We’ve done a little slideshow of favourites for all you vintage fabric fans – in addition to an airing they’ll obviously need a good iron!























They’re a myriad of sizes, so we’ll list them individually over the coming weeks & months – they’ll be perfect for all manner of crafty projects.

Bookmarks – 1950s Fashion Print

Monday, March 14th, 2011

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book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg surrounded by vintage 1950s fabric

Today’s Bookmarks book review is 1950s Fashion Print….

front page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg surrounded by vintage 1950s fabric

…one in a series written by Marnie Fogg and published by Anova Books.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with bird print

The books arrival was perfectly timed as it appeared hot on the heels of our vintage fabric haul which we blogged about recently.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with carousel print

It’s very attractive visually.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with ballerina print

Holding the book, with its tactile, textured cover is almost like handling a piece of barkcloth.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with still life on a tabletop print

An initial flick through the enticing photos contained within persuades you to delve deeper.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with figurative print

There are endless examples of superb, period fabric designs to drool over…

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with atomic print

…full-colour, detailed images of vintage prints on every page.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with red atomic print

Some very recognisable patterns as well as ones you’ll probably not seen before.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with trio of atomic prints

It isn’t however,  just a collection of pretty pictures…

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s female figure composed from various printed fabrics

…it’s extremely well researched – Fogg really knows her subject.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with leaf print

She used to be a lecturer in Visual Studies and the Culture of Fashion at the University of Nottingham.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s Lucienne Day fabric

In addition to details about the actual fabric designs, the book encompasses related topics such as interior design and social & historical influences.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing illustrated female figure dressed in the New Look style in 1950s printed fabric

Another strong point of the book is the photo captions – they’re full of additional information and incisive comments.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with stylised plant pot print

It’s a wonderful leisure read, but also a great resource…

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing full, gathered skirt made from vintage 1950s fabric

… an inspiration for design projects or for identifying fabrics that you may be lucky enough to find!

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s Tibor Reich

There’s also a useful bibliography of where to go next if your appetite for 50s patterns has been whetted.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing  a trio of vintage 1950s fabric with different geometric prints

It’s a must for devotees of textile designers such as Lucienne Day, Marian Mahler, Robert Stewart, Jaqueline Groag, Sylvia Chambers & Tom Mellor to name but a few  – along with manufacturers such as Heals, David Whitehead Ltd & Edinburgh Weavers…

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing a 1950s magazine ad for Sundour fabrics

…and for fans of Mid-century Modern in general.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing  a collection of swatches of vintage 1950s fabrics

This book is going to be a permanent fixture on our shelves.

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with leaf print
1950s Fashion Print can also be bought from our vintage design bookshops: Amazon UK | Amazon US

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with figurative print

We’ll be following up in the very near future with a review of Fogg’s 1960s Fashion Fabrics

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with Marian Mahler

…we’re very much looking forward to it!

page from the book entitled "1950s Fashion Prints" by Marnie Fogg showing vintage 1950s fabric with sun print on a red background

[Many thanks to Anova Books for supplying this review copy.]

Festival of Britain

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

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'Original Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Costain advert in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

We’ve really enjoyed flicking through it.

Electronics information in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Festival map in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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.

Royal Festival Hall information in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Battersea Park Fair in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Coalite advert in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Siemens advert in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

The brochure contains about 100 pages in total.

Sky page in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Skylon information in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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

Crompton advert in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

…bold, colourful and forward-looking.

Simplex advert in original 'Festival of Britain' catalogue

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.

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