Designer Desire: IRA Denmark

Montage of IRA Denmark metalware designs

Colourful vintage metalware is always a big seller on the H is for Home shop website. Worcesterware and Laurids Lønborg are the two main makers; however, IRA Denmark items are also very sought after.

IRA Denmark is the name of the company which was based in Copenhagen. Four of the main designers were Anita Wangel, Ethel von Horn, Arne Bentsen and Kamma Svensson. I can’t find out much about any of these individuals; there was a 2013 article in Scandinavian Retro magazine (shown at the top of the montage above), but my Swedish language knowledge is practically non-existent!

The only information that I have is that Ethel von Horn was Swedish, Arne Bentsen was Danish and Anita Wangel was Finnish. The eye-catching tins, coasters, bread bins etc were retailed through department stores and mail order across Scandinavia.

Find examples of IRA Denmark metalware on eBay and Etsy.

If you know anything further, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Image credits:
Pinterest | Scandinavian Retro

Grundy bin

'Grundy bin' blog post banner

vintage aluminium Grundy bin lid | H is for Home

We were tired of a huge bag of dog food balancing on our washing machine and were just about to buy one of the dog food bins that we featured in a recent ‘Gimme Five’ post

vintage aluminium Grundy bin

…then one of our fellow dealers brought this vintage aluminium Grundy bin into the antiques centre.

vintage aluminium Grundy bin containing a large bag of dog food

It’s absolutely perfect!! It fits the largest sacks of food, it’s secure & sturdy – and even has wheels to allow easy movement for cleaning etc.

bottom of a vintage aluminium Grundy bin showing its castors

Up-cycling at its best – we couldn’t have designed anything better.

Fudge sitting next to the vintage aluminium Grundy bin containing his dog food

Fudge approves!