Designer Desire: Stig Lindberg

Mosaic of Stig Lindberg designs | H is for Home

I can’t believe it’s taken us so many months to feature Stig Lindberg in our Designer Desire series. He’s one of our favourite mid century modern designers… and he would have turned 100 this year! We’ve had a mere sprinkling of his work in our possession over the years.

He worked at Gustavsberg from 1937 – being made Art Director in 1949 – until 1957 when he left for 13 years to become a university lecturer. He rejoined the company for a decade until 1980, two years before his death in Italy of a heart attack.

Although he is most well known for being a ceramic designer, he has successfully tried his hand at lots of other media and artforms including enamelware, plastics, glass, children’s book illustration, textile design and product design. He designed items as wide-ranging as an enamel barbecue to a plastic citrus press, a money box in the shape of a Scottie dog to a large sculptural copper fountain.

There have been a few books written about Stig Lindberg but they are fairly rare and therefore quite pricey. I dream of finding one languishing idly on a charity shop bookshelf… or even better, one of the ones he himself illustrated!

Stig Lindberg portraitcredit

Image credits:

eBay | Etsy | 1st Dibs | Kirk Modern

Bookmarks: Miller’s Mid-Century Modern

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'Mid-Century Modern' by Judith Miller surrounded by vintage Mid-century modern homewares including a West German fat lava vase, bright orange pedestal cigarette lighter, small Cathrineholm enamelware Lotus bowl and still life oil painting

In today’s Bookmarks post, we’re taking a peek at Miller’s Mid-Century Modern – living with mid-century modern design by Judith Miller.

title page of "Mid-Century Modern" by Judith Miller with a small Cathrineholm enamelware Lotus bowl

Well, a bit more of a peek, really, as we linger over some of the wonderful pieces on display!

interior view of the mid-century modern design Kauffman House sitting room

Mid-century modern is one of our favourite eras for interior design, illustration, textiles and product design…

Arne Jacobsen "Ant" and "Swan" chairs

…so as the pages turned, there was a soundtrack of many oohs and ahhs!

selection of vintage Mid-Century Modern glassware including a kingfisher blue "Drunken Bricklayer" vase designed for Whitefriars by Geoffrey Baxter

Judith Miller is most famous for her all-encompassing antiques & collectables guides which are published annually.

collection of colourful West German "Fat Lava" pottery pots and vases

In recent years, they’ve included an ever-increasing number of 20th century pieces in response to interest & demand.

collection of GPlan furniture including a nest of pebble tables and "Butterfly" chairs designed by Lucian Ercolani

This book concentrates solely on mid-century modern – 1950s to the 1970s being the period generally accepted.

collection of vintage mid-century modern glass vases

A wonderful introductory chapter covers its evolution and influential designers.

collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs including examples designed by Charles and Ray Eames and Carlo di Carli

The movement perfectly encapsulated a new mood of optimism after the war years with revolutionary designs, materials & techniques.

collection of vintage mid-century modern pop art chairs including examples designed by Egon Eiermann and Günter Beltzig

The fresh ideas, and indeed disposable income, of a whole new generation began to soar.

vintage mid-century modern chair designed by Eero Saarinen and folding cube radio designed by Richard Sapper

There are examples of houses & interiors that encapsulate the era – less cluttered and designed for modern living.

vintage mid-century modern George Nelson "Spike" wall clock, Tommi Parzinger-designed sideboard and mahogany credenza and aluminium armchair designed by Harvey Probber

A broad array of objects is included, with chapters given over to furniture, lighting, glass, ceramics, metalware & textiles.

collection of vintage mid-century modern glass vases produced by Riihimaki of Finland

In addition, an extensive section covers the people responsible for these wonderful & iconic designs.

collection of vintage mid-century modern fabric

There are about 200 familiar & not so familiar names who are given a short, individual write up.

Mid-Century Modern text

We’ll just scratch the surface by mentioning Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Eero Saarinen, Alvar Aalto, Robert Welch, Stig Lindberg, Lucienne Day, Per Lutken, Charles & Ray Eames.

view of a sitting room with black Barcelona chairs and sofas

The book is packed with quality, full colour photographic references throughout…

vintage "Valentine" typewriter designed by Ettore Sottsass, Peter and Alison Smithson chair and Ronald Stennett-Wilson green glass candlestick

…and as with all Miller’s guides – estimated values to accompany each item image.

vintage mid-century modern Marcel Breuer reclining chair and Holmegaard "Gulvase" designed by Otto Brauer

There’s also a useful directory included of international dealers and their contact details – broken down into categories such as ceramics, glass, furniture, lighting etc.

collection of American-designed vintage mid-century modern furniture

As well as auctions & fairs and museums if you fancy going to see or sometimes handle wares in the flesh.

vintage mid-century modern posters by Saul Bass and Herbert Bayer

The book is well researched and accessible – a perfect coffee table browser or excellent source book for your library.

collection of vintage Scandinavian mid-century modern ceramic pots, vases and plaques

Mid-Century Modern – living with mid-century modern design is available from the publishers Octopus, Amazon and AbeBooks.

collection of vintage Scandinavian mid-century modern ceramics designed by Stig Lindberg

[Many thanks to Octopus for the review copy]

Vintage Home Show buys!

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vintage homewares bought by H is for Home at the Manchester Vintage Home Show including 1970s Crown wallpaper, 1970s floral tea towel, Swedish plaque of a fish in relief made from copper and tin and designed by Sven Lindström, Gustavsberg 'Grazia' pin dish designed by Stig Lindberg and a '1001 Nights' porcelain charger designed by Bjørn Wiinblad for his Rosenthal Studio Line

We recently blogged about a very enjoyable Sunday morning spent at the Vintage Home Show held at Victoria Baths in Manchester. There were some excellent stalls with all kinds of temptation!

'1001 Nights' porcelain charger designed by Bjørn Wiinblad for his Rosenthal Studio Line

We acquired a few items as we wandered round.

detail from a '1001 Nights' porcelain charger designed by Bjørn Wiinblad for his Rosenthal Studio Line

The first (and most extravagant purchase) was this stunning charger designed by Bjørn Wiinblad. It’s from his 1001 Nights series and was produced by Rosenthal in the 1970s.

detail showing the artist's signature from a "1001 Nights" porcelain charger designed by Bjørn Wiinblad for his Rosenthal Studio Line

We admired it on our first circuit of the venue, picked it up and stroked it on our second circuit – and bought it on the third. We just couldn’t leave it behind!

vintage homewares bought by H is for Home at the Manchester Vintage Home Show including 1970s Crown wallpaper and 1970s floral tea towel

Then a couple of pieces of flower power caught our eye – quite understandable in the case of the zingy coloured tea towel. It was very reasonably priced, so had to be bought.

vintage 1970s floral tea towel

Unused vintage wallpaper is always much in demand. There’s usually enough on a roll to do a feature wall – or it can be used for lining draws/shelves – or various other craft projects.

vintage 1970s Crown wallpaper with floral pattern in browns and orange

On the same stall as the Wiinblad charger, we also spotted this fabulous Swedish metal wall plaque.

vintage Swedish plaque of a fish in relief made from copper and tin and designed by Sven Lindström

The stylised beaten metal fish just screams 1960s and was designed by Sven Lindstrom. We didn’t get the name of the stall holder so can’t give him a mention in person. He was very friendly and knowledgeable – travelling to Denmark on buying trips. He even gave us a few tips for places to check out… so thanks if you happen to be reading this! We’ll make a journey when we get our camper van sorted!

detail showing the maker's label from a vintage Swedish plaque of a fish in relief made from copper and tin and designed by Sven Lindström

We made our final purchase just as we were leaving – this pin dish was on the stall next to the main entrance.

small white vintage Gustavsberg 'Grazia' pin dish designed by Stig Lindberg

We love the graphic townscape design in simple black on white – it just caught our eye despite being so small.

detail showing the backstamp from a small white vintage Gustavsberg 'Grazia' pin dish designed by Stig Lindberg

It turns out to be the work of Stig Lindberg – a true great of Scandinavian design. That was a bonus!

If you missed the last two shows, the Manchester dates for 2013 have recently been confirmed – 17 March, 9 June & 27 October.

Bowled over by Stig!

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large vintage bowl designed & decorated by Stig Lindberg for Gustavsberg of Sweden

We’re saying a fond farewell to our gorgeous Stig Lindberg bowl in a few days. We bought it last year at auction and despite it being very tempting to keep hold of these items indefinitely, we have to make a living. So it’s up for sale!

detail from large vintage bowl designed & decorated by Stig Lindberg for Gustavsberg of Sweden

It’s a stunning piece with blue band and black zig-zag design – hand decorated by Stig Lindberg for Gustavsberg of Sweden in the 1950s. Fully marked to the base with the artist’s distinctive markings.

detail from large vintage bowl designed & decorated by Stig Lindberg for Gustavsberg of Sweden

We put most items on our own website, but we’ve decided to list this one on eBay. There are avid collectors of Scandinavian pottery from this era – and Stig Lindberg-designed examples in particular. It will reach a wide audience for collectors worldwide who are searching for him by name. If you’re a fellow fan, there’s still 4 days left of the auction.

We’ve enjoyed living with it for a while, but it’s just got a bid… so it looks like goodbye!