We’ve reached the end of the alphabet… and ‘Z’ is for zoo. Our virtual zoo is full of animals beautifully interpreted in pottery, glass, textiles, book illustrations and more. All our animals are well looked after… and there’s no entrance fee!!
Essential for seasoning… salt and pepper need storing, sprinkling, pinching, grinding and shaking. There are endless possibilities to enable all these things.
Starting with the traditional matching salt & pepper pots… they’re made from pottery, glass, metal, plastic and wood.
As these pots are often left on permanent display, it’s a great opportunity for showing off a bit of good design, striking pattern or flash of colour. These gorgeous Cathrineholm ‘Lotus’ examples (manufactured by Lyngby) manage to combine all three…
We also like pinch pots; they’re great for salt crystals or flakes – and coarse, ground pepper.
We keep these John Clappison-designed Hornsea pinch pots in our kitchen table. They were originally intended as ashtrays, but are the perfect size & shape for this alternative use.
Larger pinch pots & salt pigs are great for keeping beside the stove for everyday cooking use.
These wooden pinch pots are actually antique cheese moulds – again they’re ideal for their new function.
A salt pig is one of the best containers to keep by the cooker as it allows for a good scoop or handful when adding to boiling water for pasta, rice, vegetables etc.
If you prefer your salt in a sealed container there are lots of options here too!
And finally grinders… these make light work of salt crystals & whole peppercorns – releasing aromas and flavours right at the point of serving.
The undoubted master of the grinder is designer Jens Quistgaard, with his numerous examples produced for Dansk Designs. There is, in fact, a book available entirely dedicated to the subject – Danish Pepper: Jens Quistgaard’s Teak Pepper Mills (Amazon)
As you can see from the cover, their sculptural forms and beautiful grain makes for a stunning grouping. We’ve just decided that we may have to start a collection of our own!
In our last blog we were musing over the influence of nature on artists & designers. Also how nature has been interpreted in book illustrations etc. We randomly began with ‘fish’ as a sub-theme, we’re going to continue, equally randomly, with vintage bird illustrations.
1960s Irish linen tea towel
kitchen storage jar
The items featured are again predominantly vintage finds from the 1950s, 60s & 70s. They include artworks, books and domestic wares.
1960s Wedgewood glass birds
Check out the fantastic bird series produced for Iittala by the Finnish glass designer, Oiva Toikka started in 1973. They’re still being made today having amassed a range of over 300 designs.
John Clappison designs for Hornsea Pottery – mugs & hen ashtray
Mexican pin dish
1950s cocktail tray
We’re really pleased with this recent biscuit tin acquisition, picked up in a mixed box at a nearby auction.
fantastic 1950s graphics
Mid century books can be a rich source of high quality, period illustrations.
We dipped into our vintage cookery book collection again and came out with some little gems.
collection of 1950s Stork margarine recipe booklets
Bill Charmatz illustrations
Esquire Cook Book front cover. First published in 1956
Charley Harper illustrations
We hope you’ve enjoyed looking at our avian delights. Stay tuned for flowers, foliage, landscapes and much more!
Whether it be the physical landscape itself or the flora & fauna contained within it, artists and designers have been influenced by nature over the centuries.
Inspiration drawn from mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, clouds, trees, birds, fish, plants, flowers are all reflected in their work.
We thought it would be fun to take these broad themes and show their influence on the creative process. For no particular reason, we’re going to start with something fishy!
vintage 1960s pottery plates
We might feature stuff from any decade, but there will, no doubt, be a mid 20th century bias as we love this era and are always drawn to vintage pieces from the 50s, 60s & 70s.
Large 1950s green glass dish
1960s art glass sculptures
Stylised fish were a much-used design motif in this mid 20th century period – in art, design and everyday homewares.
Collage entitled Fish Fossil Sea Bed by Andrew Rob, 1970
1960s iron trivet | Swedish serving dish (Dukat)
Aquarius series fish plates by Washington Pottery
John Clappison, Hornsea Pottery | Bernard Moss Pentewan Pottery
Hornsea Pottery wall-mountable fish… who needs flying ducks?
Also, the artistic treatment given in cookbooks etc can be quite magical. Two of our undoubted favourites are Bill Charmatz and Charley Harper.
Bill Charmatz – from the Esquire Cook Book first published in Great Britain in 1956.
Charley Harper – from Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two first published in 1958.
Finally, to show that nature can do a pretty good job herself, we picked up this fossil from a great little shop in Hastings. Preserved in green river shales, it’s 45 million years old (hopefully you won’t be waiting that long for the launch of our website!).
Knightia alta, Eocene period. Origin: Wyoming
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