Blomus tea set

This stainless steel tea set caught our eye at a local flea market last week. What a fabulous modernist shape!

The lady selling it thought it dated from the 1960’s. We could go along with that assumption in terms of design – you could just see it in the departure lounge of 2001: A Space Oddysey!

However, this date was far from certain and would require some checking. It was clearly marked to the base, so detective work was quite straightforward.

As it turned out, it dates from the noughties – and is the limited edition ‘Asia’ tea set produced by Blomus of Germany.

The design and quality is superb – and we love little details like the integral strainer. The set comprises teapot, lidded milk and sugar bowls – and under tray. Form meets function perfectly.

It’s quite quickly become sought after and collectable. It’s just gone into a mid-century modern corner of a new retail space that we’ve just acquired… more details to follow on that! It’s priced at £125 the set.

Tempting tea set

And the nominations for our favourite purchase of the week are… *dramatic pause*… it’s like the Oscars… well, not quite. Anyway, our choice for favourite purchase of the week is this fabulous 1960s tea set.

You can’t beat a stainless steel teapot when it comes to style and practicality when thinking about your daily brew. It keeps your tea hot for longer compared to other materials and is the hygienic choice. Also, it doesn’t crack, chip or smash like ceramic teapots are prone to doing.

We see so many drab, average-looking stainless steel tea sets from this period that we don’t normally look twice. Just occasionally, one stands out from the crowd!

This one’s quite sculptural – we love the angular ‘hollow’ handles and circular teak finials. It has a really clean, modernist look. We’ve no idea of the designer or manufacturer. The only markings indicate it was made in Hong Kong, which was quite common during this period, as many companies based production there.

Whoever is responsible, there’s no doubting that it’s a great looking piece. Just the thing to accompany a plateful of modernist triangular sandwiches (crusts removed, of course) – or sports biscuits with their 1972 Munich Olympics vibe (the original versions, at least). Alternatively, the set could just sit on open mid-century modern shelving, looking fabulous. Let us know if you do happen to know a possible designer for it – or if you’d like to own it, of course!

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.