Three Scheurich retro winter warmers

 

Something to add a bit of warmth to a winter day.

There are Dancing flames, fire-red colours and bubbling lava flows on these vintage West German vases.

I have an idea they are all by Scheurich and they probably date from the 1960s or 1970s. Grouped together, they certainly help to warm up a retro-styled interior.

There seems a lot more information available on West German pottery these days - and some very keen collectors. There are some amazing images and lots of good info on one of my favourite blogs, here: Blurat West German pottery

Sweet simplicity in stainless steel.

 

Who was it that said 'Less is more'?

Do you find that sometimes, when you see and an object, it looks and feels just right? It may not be an expensive object – like this humble sugar shaker – but somehow you get the feeling that the designer got it spot on.

I do. And I did, when I found this stainless steel kitchen accessory in a local charity shop recently.

I suspect that simplicity is the key. And I imagine that it's not easy for a designer to get that just right: keeping to a perfectly symmetrical form, resisting the urge to add any decoration and carefully considering every small detail right down to the arrangement of the holes in the top. Simple but not easy.

As for the sugar shaker itself, all I know of it is that it was made in Britain by Chichester, I would guess around the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Sweet.

Troika. A work of art whichever way you look at it.

Vase, sculpture, art? To me, this tall Troika vase qualifies as all three.

And the nice thing about having a vase that's square like this one, is that – depending which face you choose to display – it's a bit like having four different vases in one.

This carved and wonderfully textured vase in warm earthy colours is by Troika Pottery. The design is by Tina Doubleday who was at Troika between 1977 and 1979.

There's a lot more information on Troika pottery, including a useful list of designers marks, here: Troika Pottery

Colourful and sculptural. 1970s Carltonware.

Back to the pottery. And what better way than with a zing of colour from the 1970s.

These artful creations are by Carltonware and they probably date from the 1970s. In Acid green, lemon yellow and bright red, this tableware looks wonderfully sculptural with those stacked ring shapes. There are two vinegar or oil bottles, the small red item is a candle holder, the round top item is a pepper pot and the tallest pot is a vase.

Even if you didn't want to use them on a table setting, I think they look so good together as a group, you could simply put them out on display and enjoy them as little works of art.

The talent of Charley Harper

I recently did a blog-post on the illustrations from a Mary Blair children's song book, remember this: Mary Blair book ?

Well, I was lucky enough to get hold of a copy of another superbly illustrated children's book and I couldn't resist sharing it with you too.

The book, a children's introduction to biology, was published in 1962 and it features the illustrations of the brilliant Charles Harper

The book is jam-packed with illustrations – these six scans are only a small sample. There's no need for too many words from me on the superb quality of the work, the pictures speak for themselves, but it's worth remembering that they were all produced long before the use of computers in illustration.

Italian lamp bases. This Bitossi pair will soon to see the light.

I suppose it's criminal of me not to be using these smart Italian lamp bases. Both have fittings and are fully wired – they just need a plug and a suitable shade and they'd be ready to go. It's a shame not use them so I promise to get that done soon.

The lamp bases are a couple more examples of vintage Bitossi pottery from circa 1960s or 1970s. As regular visitors will already know, like a moth to light, I seem to be helplessly attracted to cylinder shaped pottery – remember this: Cylinder vases

The Bitossi factory is probably more associated with the Rimini Blue pottery but they also made some fabulous items in reds, yellows, oranges and other colours. The orange and brown lamp base shown here has the characteristic bands of impressed motifs that are used on the Rimini Blue range and that give such a wonderful surface texture.