Season’s greetings, it’s Christmas once again!
This week’s Tuesday Huesday post is topical, bright & festive. It features artwork by Willie Lonardo for the 1973 Harry Simeone Chorale It’s Christmas Once Again album cover.
Thanks to the King of Jingaling aka FaLaLaLaLa for the use of this image. Check out his Flickr set of vintage Christmas albums!
Here’s a quick peek at a few of our recent purchases.
We’ll start with fabrics – a lovely pair of heavy curtains with a striped pattern in blues, greens & turquoise – perfect for keeping out those coming winter draughts. There are more shades of gorgeous green and a groovy pattern in the duvet cover.
The pottery kitchen storage jars are from the Kleen Kitchen Ware range produced by Sadler – a classic 1950s look.
The pedestal alarm clock is by Rhythm – its orange hour markers are a nice detail.
These stacking stools are perfect for a camper van or small kitchen – they’re stamped to the base ‘Chair Centre January 1972′.
This lovely Scandinavian mid century modern teak pestle & mortar is by Karl Holmberg.
The camera bag has all kinds of pockets and compartments and was manufactured by Hinomoto.
And last, but not least – the nest of tables that all the items are sitting on. They’re a wonderful shape and were manufactured by G-Plan.
In terms of style & design, the 1970s is sometimes dismissed as being a bit naff or as the decade that taste forgot.
This is very wide of the mark – its influence being both wide ranging and long lasting.
This book, 70s Style & Design, by Dominic Lutyens & Kirsty Hislop clearly demonstrates this.
The decade was remarkable for its diversity – its range of cultures & counter cultures. It began with hippies & flower power and ended with punks & new wave!
There was a “loosened up spirit of fashion & design” during this period – a strong sense of doing your own thing, experimentation, freedom and fun.
There were trends & fashions of course, but it never descended into a bland homogenisation.
It was a very eclectic decade in terms of style & design – psychedelia & flower power spilled over from the 1960s, then there was the strong influence of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, nostalgic Victoriana, the folksy/back to nature style – and later on a harder edged industrial look.
It has been referred to as a decade of ‘the self’ – whether that be individuals looking towards & analyzing their inner self – or an outward expression through personal appearance or living & work spaces. This resulted in a real blossoming of creativity.
The book highlights the influence of various music scenes, movements such as gay rights & women’s lib, the importance of an increasing awareness of the environment, the political & economic factors prevalent at the time, the increasing & diverse student population, the new DIY ethos in both fashion & interiors, a craft renaissance – and the impact of shops such as Habitat, Mr Freedom, Biba and Granny Takes a Trip.
Divided into four chapters, From Pop to Postmodernism, Belle Epoque, Supernature and Avant Garde, the book tackles these subjects in great detail and does a remarkable job in drawing all these strands together.
The text is informative, articulate & well researched – the accompanying photographs capturing all the spirit of this fabulous decade.
The 70s isn’t a particularly well documented era in terms of style & design – this book helps redress the balance.
As well as having their own dedicated website, the authors write the Flashin’ on the 70s blog which features even more 70s (and 70s inspired) gorgeousness!
As usual, the book is available both direct from the publisher and through our H is for Home UK & US Amazon aStores
[Many thanks to Thames & Hudson for this review copy]
More fab purchases… and quite an eyeful of colour!
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.
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.
The stool was looking tired & grubby when we picked it up, but a bit of TLC has had amazing results.
Other pieces just needed a quick wash and were good to go. They’ll all be hitting our shop very soon.
Here are some of our favourite recent purchases – picked up at auction & flea markets over the past couple of weeks.
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.
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.
I want an orange fridge/freezer too! Most definitely the orange!
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