Fat Lava
curated by H is for Home
We collect West German pottery; often referred to as ‘fat lava’ because of its rough, volcanic texture. It’s easily identifiable – you either love it or hate it – many people find it clumsy, ugly, even grotesque. Us? We LOVE it!
Here’s a selection currently available on Etsy. Much of it is still surprisingly affordable
Here’s a selection of vintage homewares that we added to the H is for Home webshop this weekend.
Some lovely Scandinavian pieces for kitchen/dining including the cow milk jug produced by Arabia and the Daisy cup & saucer by Figgjo Flint.
Also, this red enamel coffee pot designed by Anti Nurmesniemi for Finel – such a classic piece of Scandinavian mid century modern!
Moving a short distance across Europe to Germany – this trio of vases were designed by Cari Zalloni for Altenkunstadt Pottery. They’re from his ‘Cirkel’ range and the Op Art pattern is really striking. We’ve listed them separately, but they do look great grouped together. If you’d like to re-home them as a family, then we can do a special price on the three together!
These Babycham glasses were a good find. You quite often come across them looking a bit tired (well, they have been partying!). The logos & gold rims are often well rubbed, but these are absolutely mint in their original display box.
A bit more advertising ware. These milk bottles were popular in the 1970s & 80s – much more exciting that a drab Tetrapak carton! You could decant your milk into them to brighten up your morning cereal – or they’re perfect for cut flowers too.
We’ve been picking up a lot of industrial vintage items recently. These staplers fit in very well with that theme adding a vintage touch to a desk or shelf whilst remaining completely functional.
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.
Well, a bit more of a peek, really, as we linger over some of the wonderful pieces on display!
Mid-century modern is one of our favourite eras for interior design, illustration, textiles and product design…
…so as the pages turned, there was a soundtrack of many oohs and ahhs!
Judith Miller is most famous for her all-encompassing antiques & collectables guides which are published annually.
In recent years, they’ve included an ever-increasing number of 20th century pieces in response to interest & demand.
This book concentrates solely on mid-century modern – 1950s to the 1970s being the period generally accepted.
A wonderful introductory chapter covers its evolution and influential designers.
The movement perfectly encapsulated a new mood of optimism after the war years with revolutionary designs, materials & techniques.
The fresh ideas, and indeed disposable income, of a whole new generation began to soar.
There are examples of houses & interiors that encapsulate the era – less cluttered and designed for modern living.
A broad array of objects is included, with chapters given over to furniture, lighting, glass, ceramics, metalware & textiles.
In addition, an extensive section covers the people responsible for these wonderful & iconic designs.
There are about 200 familiar & not so familiar names who are given a short, individual write up.
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.
The book is packed with quality, full colour photographic references throughout…
…and as with all Miller’s guides – estimated values to accompany each item image.
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.
As well as auctions & fairs and museums if you fancy going to see or sometimes handle wares in the flesh.
The book is well researched and accessible – a perfect coffee table browser or excellent source book for your library.
Mid-Century Modern – living with mid-century modern design is available from the publishers Octopus, Amazon and AbeBooks.
[Many thanks to Octopus for the review copy]
We made the trip to Lincoln Antiques and Home Fair on Monday. Our alarm was set for 5.30am, so it was quite an early start in the cold and the dark. Add in a few hours driving and you have to hope that the effort will be worthwhile.
Fortunately it was – and we picked up some very nice pieces – some favourites are shown here. It’s mainly vintage, mid 20th century stuff; but we couldn’t resist a couple of country antiques too, such as this beautiful 18th century bowl and bread/pie oven peel.
We bought quite a few West German ‘fat lava’ pots, concentrating on bold reds & oranges. Their prices are certainly on the rise. Other ceramics included the wall plaques designed by Bjorn Wiinblad for Nymolle of Denmark. Each one represents a month of the year and features a loving couple’s story – from courtship to parenthood. We like the whimsical, folk art design and we’ve actually got a set on our kitchen wall.
A slightly more recent piece of wood was to be found in the shape of this 1950s/60s teak coaster set. We’re not sure who the maker is, but it’s got real quality to it – it’s very Scandinavian and has a gorgeous, warm colour. There was no shortage of enamelware to be found – we plumped for this set of graduated blue kitchen pots – the largest has an impressive 18 litre capacity!
The sewing box dates from the 1960s and is made of a plastic weave material. Some people call in Dandycord – which we think was a trade name or brand of PVC flooring. The same material was used in the manufacture of these sewing boxes. You also see chairs, plant pot holders, magazine racks etc from the same period made from it. We were given a real flash of flower power colour when we lifted the lid! Equally bold & bright were the lovely little teatowel and this absolutely stunning roll of unused 1950s fabric, with it’s classic vase design & period colour combination of yellow, red, grey, black & blue.
It’s always tempting to stay in a warm bed, but we’re glad that we didn’t when we look back at this haul!
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