Bruno Munari (1907-1998) is probably as close as you’d get to an all-encompassing creative. Born in Milan, he was a graphic designer, industrial & product designer, children’s toy designer, painter, sculptor, film-maker, book illustrator & author and educator.
In the 30s & 40s, he worked as art director on Tempo Magazine, Grazia and for a short while, Domus. He also later became a consultant on the fledgling Epoca Magazine. In 1948, he was one of the founder members of Movimento Arte Concreta (MAC), the Italian concrete art movement.
He designed for many of the top Italian design houses including Danese Milano, Olivetti, Pirelli, Robots and Zanotta. For Danese, he created the iconic Falkland suspension lamp and Cubo ashtray (both shown in the montage above). For Zanotta, he created the whimsical Singer chair – described by the company as a, “Chair for very brief visits”.
There are many books by and about Munari available on Abe Books and Amazon.
Art shall not be separated from life: things that are good to look at, and bad to be used, should not exist. Bruno Munari, 1966
Claydon Auctioneers will be holding their 3-day antiques, collectables, paintings, prints and sporting & country pursuits auction early next month. It takes place in Buckingham on 6th & 7th October 2021 from 9am and 8th October 2021 from 10am. An astonishing 2,743 lots will be going under the hammer.
In addition to the hammer price, there will be a buyer’s premium charge of 19.5% + VAT, (23.4% inclusive of VAT). As is the case with all the auctions we feature in this series, bidding online is an option if you can’t be in the room for whatever reason. Claydon explain:
Online bidding has transformed traditional auctions, allowing bidders to participate from anywhere in the world from the palm of their hand. We are therefore very pleased to offer various options for online bidding. You can bid through our own website, as well as via a number of popular online bidding platforms which include The Saleroom, EasyLive Auction, Invaluable / AuctionZip and Live Auctioneers.
Don’t forget that bidding online brings further fees. EasyLive Auction is our preferred site as you can pay a flat fee of £3.00 when registering to bid on each sale, instead of a percentage of the grand total of your winning bids.
You wouldn’t know it from the 12 items that we’ve selected to share however, there are a lot of sporting & country pursuits-related items. For example, there’s a large quantity of ‘dead stock’ country (hunting, shooting, fishing) attire and vintage advertising ephemera such as pro-hunt wall posters. We’ve chosen to concentrate on the homewares side of things.
My favourite item has to be the vintage American range cooker (the very last image below). I can just imagine it in a mid-century modern decorated kitchen (with bright Formica worktops) alongside one of those over-sized fridge freezers.
Lot 68: An Italian model of a stylised horse
With a turquoise glaze, in Oriental manner, by Aldo Londi (1911-2003). Approx. 16¼” high x 16¼” long
Estimate: £80 – £120
Lot 127: Scandinavian plate
Decorated with animal illustrations, to include fox, pig, hedgehog, squirrel, rabbit, etc. Marked under Arabia, Made in Finland, 8-63. Approx. 7¾” diameter
Estimate: £10 – £20
Lot 278: Geoffrey Baxter for Whitefriars
A tangerine glass ‘ coffin ‘ vase 5¼” high together with a m aubergine glass ‘ finger ‘ vase 5½” high (2)
Estimate: £30 – £50
Lot 1194: A vintage letterpress tray / drawer
With a quantity of assorted carved wooden letter, number and symbol printing blocks, of varying fonts and sizes. Drawer approx. 14¼” x 32¾”
Estimate: £30 – £50
Lot 1341A: Four 20thC suitcases
Comprising 2 shoe cases by Victor Luggage, 1 vanity case, and 1 suitcase by Harwen Trunk of Hong Kong, the largest 28½” wide (4)
Estimate: £50 – £80
Lot 1571: An Art Deco Austrian / Viennese bead work bag / purse
With multicoloured geometric and striped patterns. Believed to have been designed by Hilda Wagner Ascher, Wiener Werkstatte. Approx. 8¼” long x 5½” wide
Estimate: £50 – £100
It was only last week when we bought a vintage bright orange plastic waste paper basket that we learned anything about Gino Colombini.
Gino Colombini (1915-2011) was an Italian product designer who worked primarily in plastic. From 1933 to 1952, he worked in the Milan practice of the architect and designer, Franco Albini. Together, they co-designed the rattan ‘Margherita’ chair in 1951. From 1953 until 1960, Colombini was the first technical director of Kartell for whom he created many domestic products including the waste paper basket that we bought.
Colombini won the Compasso d’Oro award on five occasions; 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960. The Museum of Modern Art in New York have a number of his designs in their permanent collection.
Our orange bin will shortly be for sale in our space at Valley Antiques in Hebden Bridge. However, if you can’t get over to West Yorkshire, you can often find examples of his products on 1stDibs, Bukowskis and Etsy.
Our recent acquisitions have a ’round the world’ theme.
We’ll start with Finland. Vintage glassware fans will recognise the sculptural form and distinctive olive green colour of the Riihimäki vase. These vases look amazing when arranged in groups or rows, highlighting the contrast in shapes and size. And then the enamel mugs – what a gorgeous colour and pattern. They were designed by Kaj Franck for Finel – and are very hard to find in this condition and quantity.
Next, on to Italy, where this fabulous little pin dish was produced. The hand decorated piece has very eye-catching decoration; she’s a very beautiful and arresting young lady – reminiscent of the work of Modigliani. It’s the perfect little dish for rings or other jewellery. And more pretty girls on this Avon ‘Her World’ Talc. Cosmetic products aren’t something that we normally pick up – but it’s unused with contents intact – and the illustrations are so gorgeous that we couldn’t resist. The label reads “Avon Cosmetics – New York, London, Munchen, Paris, Rome” – a very apt item for our little global product trip!
These Konge tinn pewter napkin rings hail from Norway. They have a striking and intricate Viking themed design with warriors and ships. They’re very tactile in the hand – keep your dinner guests happy for hours! And last, but not least, a charming vintage enamel candle holder that we’re pretty sure was made in France. We love the delicate ribbed pattern, aged patina and fabulous emerald green colour.
These international vintage products and others will be heading to our web shop soon – click on each item image to find it!
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
