Flavour of the Month

We’ve been sorting through a huge box of Hornsea Pottery that lives in our loft.

Amongst the collection are these fabulous love mugs.

There are 12 great designs – each corresponds to a month of the year and shows a young couple in a characteristic scene from that month – bonfire night for November, rain showers for April etc.

They were designed by Kenneth Townsend for Hornsea Pottery in the 1970s.

We’re adding to the set gradually – an even bigger box might be required… or more shelves!!

You can find out more about Hornsea Love mugs on the official Kenneth Townsend website. Oh, and if you own any Hornsea Pottery items, we founded a Hornsea Pottery Collectors group on Flickr that you can sign up to!

J is for… jug

Here’s a little blog in praise of the humble jug.

An essential part of domestic life over thousands of years – we use jugs for carrying water, pouring milk, washing & bathing, displaying flowers – the list is endless.

Justin’s brother is a potter and we have some of his jugs dotted around the house. We love the salt glazed ones above which he makes. They’re quite timeless – you can imagine the one on the right filled with ale in a Pieter Bruegal village scene. The simple thumb detailing around the base is lovely. We need some bowls to match if you’re reading this Damian!!

And, as if we didn’t have enough jugs, we bought 3 more at last October’s Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. We couldn’t resist Hannah McAndrew‘s wares for a second year – her traditional slipware pottery drawing on medieval influences. They look perfect set upon antique wooden furniture – but would look equally fantastic as stand alone pieces in a very contemporary modern space.

Here are a few more favourites that have recently passed through our hands.

A well designed & attractive jug will give you a little bit of pleasure every time you use it!

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2010

We spent Friday evening at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Spinningfields, Manchester city centre…

…and a very pleasant evening it was too.

The fair expanded into two pavilions for its second year.

A great mix of ceramics, glass, metal, paper and textiles… from both new exhibitors and favourites from last year.

There were so many great stalls – we’ve just selected a few that caught our eye.

We’ll start with Jane Blease Design.

She uses plywood and threaded cotton to produce artworks, light shades and jewellery.

It’s striking from a distance, then fascinating in the detail.

A piece of Jane’s work was temptation number one and we’d only been in the marquee for a few seconds!

Moving along to &made,

Andrea Lord produces lovely hand-sewn pieces…

…her items simply & beautifully displayed.

Cushions, wall hangings and rows of gorgeous cacti pin cushions in their little terracotta pots!

We mentioned Derek Wilson Ceramics in our post from last year’s fair.

His stand, filled with his beautiful and delicate porcelain, stopped us in our tracks again…

….elegant, understated simplicity.

Ruth Green Design has proved another favourite with our blog readers – and a shot of her prints always rides high in our Flickr photo viewings.

We lingered at her stall for a good while.

Her prints, sold in limited edition runs, look fabulous hanging all together.

The Pear Tree, one of her new designs, was another strong temptation!

You can always guarantee a striking display from Hannah Nunn’s Radiance Lighting…

…the warm cosy glow of her beautiful, nature-inspired shades…

…the designs hand cut from paper and then laminated.

Phew… time for a pit stop… a sit down with a glass of wine!!

First-time exhibitor Ken Eardley made the long drive up from Brighton where he has his studio.

His range of striking pottery with stylised trees, flowers & leaves was a real show stopper.

Functional and beautiful – always a winning combination.

No doubt his work will be starring in lots of interiors magazines in the future!

The natural landscape strongly inspires & influences the work of enameller Janine Partington.

Trees, flowers, seed heads, birds and animals.

She produces enamel panels, small sculptures and jewellery.

We’d love to stroll through a magical forest of her making.

Kent-based Maxine Sutton plays with imagery of familiar everyday domestic objects and the natural world.

Incorporating them into embroidered and printed textiles to produce a range of interior products.

There were lots of eye-catching items on her stand.

We’ve got a standard lamp that would happily accommodate one of her large shades… and we just loved the coffee pot/cafetiere cosies with their Scandinavian feel.

The work of Sarra Kate is bright and effervescent – just like Sarra Kate herself!

Her stand called out to us from a long way away.

She starts her pieces by making colourful collages which are then laser printed onto textiles and paper…

…which go into making wall hangings, cushions and cards.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Hannah McAndrew, another of our favourites from last year.

This is where we finally gave into temptation.

We admired her stand last year, filled with its mediæval-inspired slipware pottery.

This year we just had to take a few of her pieces home!

We’ve concentrated on featuring homes and interiors products, but there was also lots & lots of fantastic fashion & jewellery – and if we featured any more this post would turn into a novel!

All the makers will be packing up and making their way home as we write this… so be sure to put the fair in your diary for next year!

D is for… Daisy

The vintage skirt below was the inspiration for today’s post. It recently caught my (Adelle’s) eye in the window of one of Manchester’s Northern Quarter vintage shops – a real bargain at just £2!