H is for Home Harbinger

Whether it be the physical landscape itself or the flora & fauna contained within it, artists and designers have been influenced by nature over the centuries.

Inspiration drawn from mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, clouds, trees, birds, fish, plants, flowers are all reflected in their work.

We thought it would be fun to take these broad themes and show their influence on the creative process. For no particular reason, we’re going to start with fish!

vintage 1960s pottery plates

We might feature stuff from any decade, but there will, no doubt be a mid 20th century bias as we love this era and are always drawn to vintage pieces from the 50s, 60s & 70s.

Large 1950s green glass dish

1960s art glass sculptures

Stylised fish were a much-used design motif in this mid 20th century period- in art, design and everyday homewares.

Collage entitled Fish Fossil Sea Bed by Andrew Rob, 1970

1960s iron trivet Swedish serving dish (Dukat)

Aquarius series plates by Washington Pottery

John Clappison, Hornsea Pottery Bernard Moss Pentewan Pottery

Hornsea Pottery wall-mountable fish… who needs flying ducks?

Also, the artistic treatment given in cookbooks etc can be quite magical. Two of our undoubted favourites are Bill Charmatz and Charley Harper.

Bill Charmatz – from the Esquire Cook Book first published in Great Britain in 1956.

Charley Harper – from Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two first published in 1958.

Finally, to show that nature can do a pretty good job herself, we picked up this fossil from a great little shop in Hastings. Preserved in green river shales, it’s 45 million years old (hopefully you won’t be waiting that long for the launch of our website!).

Knightia alta, Eocene period. Origin: Wyoming