Take a Cruise

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Vintage cruise ship menu from P&O S.S. Oronsay

We’ve just picked up two more vintage menus for our collection. We know that lots of you love illustration & design so we thought we’d share them.

S.S. Oronsay staff list

They’re both from the cruise ship SS Oronsay owned by P&O and date from the early 1970s.

Illustration of a mermaid on a vintage cruise ship menu from P&O Oronsay

The serenading mermaids on this one are just gorgeous.

S.S. Oronsay events list

And the on board entertainment is a treat to read. Frog Racing???? The people on this cruise must have fancied it as they gave it not one, but two ticks!

Illustration of a merman on a vintage cruise ship menu from P&O Oronsay

And how about this fabulous psychedelic table of fayre? That glass of wine is just amazing.

Vintage cruise ship menu from P&O Oronsay

We know that this particular design was by John Constable/Peter Hatch Partnership.

Vintage cruise ship dinner menu from P&O Oronsay

The actual menu on offer is always interesting too – you wouldn’t be hungry after this lot!

Measure for Pleasure

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section of a vintage metric measure tea towel

We recently featured some lovely vintage tea towels that we’d bought at auction. We’ve just acquired another one that we thought we’d share with you lovers of design from this era. This one dates from the late 60s/early 70s and features imperial & metric measurements.

section of a vintage metric measure tea towel

Here it is in its spectacular entirety! It might only be a humble tea towel, but it’s really a period artwork. Fabulous design & wonderful colours. We think they’re great value – you can pick up unused examples like this one for about £20 – less if your lucky. Nicely framed for another £30 or so – and you’ve got a vintage, original and distinctive wall decoration for £50. Your piece of art might even be unique – most tea towels were actually used and thrown away when they became tatty. You might have the only one left!!

vintage metric measures tea towel

This one has gone into our own growing collection of textiles – now that would be a major framing bill! This one’s heading to the top of the pile though, as we really fancy it in our orange kitchen!

George Him matchbook

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detailed view of a vintage George Him match-book front cover | H is for Home

We’ve tracked down another one of these fabulous & rare, vintage match-books produced for Liberty in the 1960s.

detailed view of a vintage George Him match-book edge showing words '150 CRON MATCHES MADE IN FINLAND | Designed for Liberty of London by vintage George Him

The last example we featured was designed by Miroslav Sasek – this one’s the work of another favourite illustrator, George Him.

vintage George Him match-book front cover

A row of guardsmen provides the inspiration – each with their own unique facial expression & medal collection.

inside view of vintage George Him match-book

The match-book is unused and in very good condition. They really are rare survivors and don’t appear often.

vintage George Him match-book rear cover

We actually had this one sent all the way from America.

collection of vintage London items including vintage Him match-book and London series ceramic tiles designed by Kenneth Townsend

We’ve added it to our collection of quirky London inspired design pieces – they really put a smile on our faces.

Gail Kelly calendar

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black & white cover of Gail Kelly's 2013 calendar featuring a linocut oak tree and acorns

Yes, it’s March, but we’ve only just got round to getting ourselves a 2013 calendar. We have high standards & requirements, you see, when it comes to choosing our annual calendar – it needs to be long & narrow as it has to fit the little strip of wall just inside the front door…

Gail Kelly's 2013 calendar hanging in our porch with white jug of yellow tulips and small vintage milk bottles

…it also needs to be attractive – no fluffy, cutesy pictures of animals much as we love them; no pop stars (Justin Bieber or Cliff Richard just won’t cut the mustard!); no artistic/moody/atmospheric shots of castles/ruins/seascapes/mountains; no humour (who wants to hear the same joke every day for a month?). We trawled Etsy, Folksy and Notonthehighstreet and eventually came across this Gail Kelly calendar.

wild cherry tree black & white linocut illustration beech tree black & white linocut illustration
willow tree black & white linocut illustration apple tree black & white linocut illustration

We first fell in love with Gail’s linocut illustrations when we saw her at the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate about 5 years ago. We’ve been stocking her tree greeting cards at H is for Home ever since!