Ken Law Tower Bridge print

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Vintage Ken Law Tower Bridge print | H is for Home

As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, we’ve just returned from a short break in London & Brighton. In addition to visiting relatives and generally being lazy for a few days, we also had to collect a picture we’d bought on eBay a while ago.

Signature on a vintage Ken Law Tower Bridge print | H is for Home

The subject matter of this vintage Ken Law print was very apt!

Detail from a vintage Ken Law Tower Bridge print | H is for Home

It’s a stylised Thames scene featuring the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, working boats and riverside buildings.

Detail from a vintage Ken Law Tower Bridge print | H is for Home

It’s stunning… the use of colour & tone and the distinctive block style. We’ve been fans of Ken Law for some time now – we have a Hampstead High Street print by him too – and there’s a fabulous depiction of a New York bridge that we’d like to get hold of sometime.

Detail from a vintage Ken Law Tower Bridge print | H is for Home

We hung it on the wall of the lovely 1960s London house where we were staying to photograph it. It looked so at home there! We almost felt guilty packing it up in our car for the journey up North.

L is for… London

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top of a vintage biscuit tin with illustration of Marble Arch, London

There’ll be many eyes- all around the world – focusing on London this week with the Royal Wedding happening on Friday…

…so ‘L’ just has to be for London!

detail of the top of vintage biscuit tin with London illustrations of such as a Pearly king and queen, beefeaters, street hawker etc

We’ve gathered images of H is for Home shop stock items – past & present, that celebrate the capital city…

detail of the sides of vintage biscuit tin with cartoon-like illustrations of tourists at London sites such as Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square
…famous landmarks, archetypal characters and classic scenes.

vintage tea towel featuring a London scene with a crowd of double decker buses at night around Christmastime, probably Oxford Street

They’ve appeared on all kinds of products…

vintage Chance Glass pin dish featuring a London double-decker bus designed by Kenneth Townsend
…lots of tins, pottery and book illustrations…

vintage Kenneth Townsend tile featuring a London beefeater

…and tea towels, posters and postcards.

vintage Kenneth Townsend tile featuring a pair of Chelsea Pensioners

We’d be tempted to have quite a collection if we were London dwellers!

vintage Kenneth Townsend tile featuring a London gentleman with bowler hat, briefcase and umbrella

We can’t resist a few pieces, even though we live out int’ sticks oop North.

vintage 1959 London Transport postcard. "Roundabout" designed by Victor Galbraith

We often see London-tastic products in the glossy interior magazines and websites – and we usually forget to bookmark them!

vintage 1960s Trans World Service menu cover depicting two horse guards in helmet and bearskin

However, you’ll always find some good stuff at places like the London Transport Museum or V & A Museum web shops…
vintage Carltonware moneybox in the shape of a London bobby

…and take a look at the “London Calling” Etsy Treasury that we’ve put together.

P.S. – Another special London event started last week – commemorating the original 1951 Festival of Britain.
triptych of images of an original 1951 Festival of Britain exhibition brochure
We loaned a few items to Kiera Buckley-Jones from BBC Homes & Antiques Magazine. She has recreated rooms from the period. Read her blog series charting its development here. We’re hoping to take a little trip down south to see it before it finishes in September.