Forthcoming Attractions: Mid January 2015

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selection of vintage homewares coming to the H is for Home shop in mid January 2015 including a fat lava floor vase, two-tone orange Thermos vacuum flask, orange vacuum jug, maroon Crayonne ice bucket, white first aid tin, cream enamel tiffin, large bobbin with twine, industrial stapler and wooden Zoo-line hippo figure

Justin’s been photographing our recent vintage purchases today – here’s a sneak preview of items heading for the web shop & antiques centre this week.

Fat lava West German pottery floor vase

We’ll start with this gorgeous fat lava West German vase. It’s got our favourite look for this type of pottery – heavily textured with a bold flash of colour.

selection of vintage picnic items including a two-tone orange Thermos vacuum flask, orange vacuum jug, maroon Crayonne ice bucket and cream enamel tiffin

We might be a bit premature in picking up picnic wares (there’s sleety snow falling outside as we write), but there’s nothing like being prepared! Some lovely items here for picnicking, camping – or a day on the allotment. The most unusual piece has to be this vintage enamel tiffin.

vintage cream enamel tiffin bowls unstacked

It comprises four cream & green containers with an aluminium carry frame. Perfect for all kinds of food from rice dishes to salads – a four course meal in fact!

white first aid tin and wooden bobbin with jute twine

We thought this wall-mountable first aid box was very nice – it’s made of metal and has a clean, simple style. Sitting alongside the cabinet is an old mill bobbin with jute twine. No house should be without some good twine – and when it looks this good, all the better.

small vintage leather suitcase and industrial stapler with staples

Next, a couple of items that date from the 1920s/30s kind of era. These old staplers are full of character and display really well. It can earn its keep though as it still works – and even has a box of old staples to go with it! We love the tiny vintage case – endless storage possibilities from craft materials to fashion accessories. They look great on a shelf or chest of drawers – singly or in a small pile. This one even had some lovely old paper from a local drapers.

details of interior of vintage leather suitcase

Last, but certainly not least is this gorgeous wooden hippo. We didn’t actually buy this piece recently – more a case of putting her into storage and it temporarily vanishing! Safe & sound now though. It’s an overnighter – the mouth opening wide to hold jewellery, watches and so on. It’s from the Zoo Line Series designed in the 1950s. There’s a bit of damage to the ear, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. The hippo has its original packaging and she looks pretty much unused – so ear aside, condition is excellent – including the bright red lips and the fact that the curly tail is intact – often this is missing or broken.

vintage wooden Zoo-line hippo with original box

So, as usual, a diverse range of items – they’ll all be available to buy soon.

Y is for… Yellow

Yellow – like orange – is another one of our favourite accent colours…

…a more gentle effect than the high impact of fiery orange, but perfect in some situations.

It has connotations of sunshine, freshness and spring. It was much used in 1950s design as countries emerged from the austere war years.

The mosaic at the top is made up of objects available from the H is for Home website.

Here’s a lovely little poem we came across recently… very fitting for today’s blog!

An omnibus across the bridge
Crawls like a yellow butterfly
And, here and there, a passer-by
Shows like a little restless midge.

Big barges full of yellow hay
Are moored against the shadowy wharf,
And, like a yellow silken scarf,
The thick fog hangs along the quay.

The yellow leaves begin to fade
And flutter from the Temple elms,

And at my feet the pale green Thames
Lies like a rod of rippled jade.

Symphony In Yellow, Oscar Wilde

V is for… Viners

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 firm’s 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 vintage Viners items for sale.

L is for… Lundtofte

We picked up this fabulous vintage stainless steel coffee set last weekend.

That made our minds up about what the letter ‘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 state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques – stainless steel often combined with teak or rosewood handles and finials.