After Justin’s recent spate of bringing young ladies home, I thought it should be my turn! I’ve just picked up these two lovely old boys.
They’re Chelsea Pensioners, and are the newest addition to my collection of Kenneth Townsend tiles.
All these examples are from a ‘London‘ series produced in the 1960s.
It’s not been long since we mentioned Kenneth Townsend tiles – having recently blogged about his ‘Menagerie‘ series. But we don’t need much of an excuse to show off his work!
This is our 100th post – and we’re turning to one of our favourites – artist & illustrator, Kenneth Townsend. In particular, we’re focusing on his ‘Menagerie‘ series of tiles. These tiles received a Design Centre award.
The ‘Menagerie’ series featured over 20 different animal designs. He also produced the ‘Horoscope’ and ‘London’ tile series.
A new Flickr Group celebrating the works of Kenneth Townsend has just been formed. You’re welcome to join and add your own images or just come and have a look!
If you’re interested in starting your own collection, they’re often available in vintage stores. They also come up for sale on eBay quite regularly. Have a look at seller simoncurtis. He’s had quite a few of these tiles for sale recently – and has kindly allowed us to use some of his photos in this blog post.
We added this clown moneybox to the Child’s Play section of our website recently.
We know that not everyone likes clowns – it’s actually a recognised fear, Coulrophobia – but this is a cute little fella!
The clown is one of a number of eye-catching money boxes produced by Carltonware in the 1960s. There’s also a princess, pirate, cat, owl, policeman, soldier, train and Noah’s Ark to name but a few.
If you’d like to see some more examples, have a look at the Lovers of Carlton Ware Flickr group.
Briglin Pottery was founded in 1948 in London’s West End by Brigitte Goldschmidt and Eileen Lewenstein.
They produced a variety of handmade & decorated pottery items such as vases, lamp bases, money boxes and tableware.
The pottery has characteristic subtle, natural tones – oatmeal, terracotta & chocolate.
A wax resist technique was often used in the glazing process, producing a wonderfully tactile result – alternating coarse and smooth surfaces.
We really love the recurring daisy / sunflower motif – also the leaves on stem and striped designs.
We’re currently fighting over this wonderful big striped mug. To keep the peace, the deal is – if you make the brew, you get the mug!
If we’ve spiked your interest you’ll find a lot more information on the Briglin Pottery and Pottery Studio websites. There’s also a book on the subject available on Amazon and Abe Books.
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