Aldo Londi Arkitectura Animal Range – £150 – £220, Heals

Most famous for his Rimini Blu pottery figures & homewares produced for Ceramiche Bitossi, the Arkitectura range was the last to be designed by Londi.

We would like one of each please – thank you!

Very timely! A set of four stamps from Sweden celebrating St Valentine’s day. What’s the word for ‘Love’ in Swedish I hear you ask? Well, it’s ‘Kärlek’!

These stamps are currently for sale from the Philatelic Agency of Japan for 1,350 yen (approx. £10/$16 USD)

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!

Prices start at £150 for the small rack and £250 for the large rack – London Transport Museum

We first saw these on the Retro to Go blog and instantly fell in love. Immediately recognisable by anyone who has taken a train in Britain. A sturdy & practical bit of kit – we want one for our ever-messy porch area!

If you’d like to bag yourself one (or more!) you need to register your interest on the London Transport Museum website.

Aren’t these roses beautiful? I bet they’re dead easy to make… I only wish that I paid more attention and showed a bit more interest when my mother tried to teach me to crochet when I was young!

originally posted on the particularpoetry tumblr

Any Jane Austen fans out there?

We’ve got the perfect vintage biscuit tin for you!!

Dating from the 1950s and made by A.Romary & Co Ltd from Tunbridge Wells, it’s decorated with Georgian dandies doffing their hats to the coquettish ladies riding atop their horse drawn carriage – all in their period finery.

So settle back with your chocolate digestives for the next episode of Pride & Prejudice – perhaps you could even tempt your own Mr Darcy round for tea & biscuits!

Nomos Glashütte Tetra 27 Karat wristwatch – €1280

Some women have a shoe or handbag fetish – I’ve got those too – but I also have a thing for watches! This one with it’s square face and 1930s style numerals is really something – I love it! I’ll get me one as soon as I win the Euro Millions!

Longtime followers of our blog will know that we love the art of Charley Harper. This one, entitle “Octoberama” is one of our favourites!  He was very prolific and his work can be found as originals artworks, prints, books, calendars, stationery, mouse mats… the list goes on & on… all of which can be bought from either the Charley Harper estate website or Amazon UK or USA.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

In our case, it was the egg – the one that came with the Terrybaun egg cup & saucer we blogged about last week!

This chicken is also a piece of slipware that we recently found – the cute little figure is only 9cm tall. We thought it might be a pie funnel when we first saw it. It’s hollow but there’s no hole to let the steam out. Perhaps just a little ornament then… unless you’ve got other ideas? Its colour is reminiscent of that classic Wedgewood Jasperware blue.  Very sweet – we wouldn’t mind a flock of these!

We picked up this gorgeous little egg cup & saucer this week. It only cost a pound, but it’s one of those little items that we’re going to treasure. We’ve mentioned previously how much we love this type country slipware pottery.

We did a bit of research into the maker and it turns out that it’s by Terrybaun Pottery – one of the oldest, if not the oldest, craft potteries in Ireland. It was established by Madeleine & Grattan Freyer in the late 1940s. Our egg cup looks like it might be one of their quite early slipware pieces.

Below are just a few examples of the slipware & scaffito pieces they produced in the 1950s/60s – the pictures are taken from the Irish Arts Review’s online archive – stunning!!

The couple’s nephew, master potter Henri Hedou, alongside his wife Fiona, carries on the tradition – taking over the running of the Co Mayo pottery in 1983.