Whitefriars glass at its bobbly best.

Joy of joys. I was lucky enough to find another knobbly vase to add to my slowly growing collection of coloured cased glass. I rescued the tall kingfisher blue vase from a second-hand shop earlier this week.

I say 'vase' but since I started to research this type of glassware, I have seen this tall, slim shape described as a lamp base. I'm fairly sure that all three of these glass beauties are by Whitefriars and are from a range designed by William Wilson and Harry Dyer in 1963. Known, for obvious reasons, as the Knobbly range, they were in production between 1964 and 1972. The Whitefriars Knobbly vases and lamp bases were made in a range of plain cased colours, like these, and also in a range of attractive streaky colours.

The vases are satisfyingly heavy and are as good to handle as they are to look at. All the surfaces are irregular, randomly bobbled and are silky smooth to touch. Even the neck openings are rounded and smoothed off. This type of vase must be a dream for interior decorators – they look so good in almost any setting. I particularly like the way you get a glimpse of the clear glass at the base and at the edges. And when you get a couple of different colours together, the effect can be quite stunning....

Hornsea Summertime with a nod to Kitschenpink

As a quick follow-on to the last blogpost on the Hornsea Summit range, and in response to a comment from Teena at Kitschenpink, here are some photos of the Summertime range by Hornsea Pottery. The range was produced between 1962 and 1964.

The range does have many similarities to the Summit range. Like Summit, the Summertime range has white bodies with fluted stripes of colour inlay but on the Summertime range, the stripes are slightly narrower and closer together. The Summertime range also features the addition of co-ordinating plastic lids, which add a nice splash of colour.

So, big thanks to Teena for her comments on Summertime and for giving me the inspiration to do this blogpost.

Hornsea Summit for La momes

A quick blogpost to answer a question from La momes Old fashioned

This fluted striped tableware with inlay colour is called Summit. It was made by Hornsea Pottery, England between 1960 and 1965. Some time ago I did a blogpost on the Crafty Cruet. I promised then to do a blogpost on Summit, which I will do soon. You can see an example of Summit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, here: Summit at the V&A

Cathrineholm Lotus enamelware.

You don't have to hide away your pots and pans in cupboards when they look this good.

If you can find vintage enamelware in good enough condition, and at a sensible price, it's worth picking up. The problem is, it seems to be getting harder to do that, these days. Enamelled metal pots, pans and bowls, like these, look really good displayed on an open kitchen shelf. It's no wonder keen collectors are now snapping up all the best pieces. This type of enamelware is well-made and comes in some fabulous colours and designs.

Most of the examples shown here are in the popular and very beautiful Lotus pattern produced by Cathrineholm, Norway in the 1950s and 1960s. Often the Lotus pattern is attributed to designer Grete Prytz Kittelsen (1917 – 2010), but there seems to be some doubt as to whether she was the actual designer.

Whoever the designer was, I'm a big fan. And so is MidCenturyMama, she has some great photos of her Cathrineholm collection, here: Cathrineholm lovers

True 1950s style. Elegance by name, elegant by...

If ever a range of pottery typified the design style of the 1950s, to me, this would be it.

Designed in the mid 1950s by a young John Clappison for Hornsea Pottery, this is Elegance. The range was in production between 1955 and 1959. The asymmetrical shapes incorporate deep curves. The outers are decorated with clean white unglazed stripes against a glossy black background. The interiors and details are in yellow, sometimes in golden yellow, sometimes in paler lemon yellow. Shown here (middle picture) is a smart salt and pepper set with a tall tapering form, and a vase (bottom picture) which has a hole on its flat back side to allow for hanging on a wall.

There's a fine example from the Elegance range in the collection of the V&A museum, London. You can see it here: Elegance vase

If, like me, you have a fondness for mid-century design, you'll probably agree that this range could be truly described as Elegance by name, and elegant by nature.