1930's boat brooch

I love this 1930's brooch I found a while back made from very early plastic - I would also love a serene pale pink sailboat to cruise out of London's current heatwave.

  I found this in an indoor fleamarket in Arundel, a pretty and very quintessentially English town in West Sussex brimming with tea rooms and enjoyable tweeness.  I took a gang from London for my birthday and we had a superb day exploring old churches, rummaging in bookshops, trying some of the excellent rustic fodder at The Swan and ending the night with bargain whiskies before jumping on the last train home.

Arundel also has this utterly majestic castle - although a walk around it after dark for some reason suddenly gave me the jitters, my overactive imagination made me convinced I was going to see a headless ghost / hooded monk, or perhaps even a headless monk, so I scarpered back to the glow of the high street.  It looks like a fabulous place to visit in daylight hours though (if you can stretch to the killer £20 entry fee)

1920's German Film book

I came across this wonderful original film tome from the 1920's on a recent trip to Berlin

 I found it nestling at a Kreuzberg fleamarket and was drawn in by it's cover, finely crafted using delicately cut out paper

  

With hand drawn ink patterns and letters too

There was no date but some useful fellow had written this inside - 18.2.23 

Film Fimmel roughly translates as 'Film Infatuation,' so I was intrigued as to what some of the chapters were about.  Because my German only stretches to ordering kaffee und kuchen, I had to take to Google translate with some of these, with limited results - this section below reads as 'Mysterious Characters,' which still doesn't tell me much, although this flat capped ruffian is already a winner

 

Since it was printed in the silent film era, I'm guessing the rest are probably directions of how best to execute certain types of scene.  I could only translate snippets of the rest, but I think it's actually quite fun to get lost trying to decipher the weird and amusing goings on.

Since some of the pages were slightly coming away which gets those book collector creatues all ruffled I got it for just 5 euros which I felt triumphant about since it's obviously a unique item with an unmistakable connection to the visual hallmarks of what was a hugely influential era.

The cover made me think straight away of the jagged edges, sharp angles seen in lots of German Expressionist films of the time, but especially The Cabinet of Dr Caligari - I'd recently spent an afternoon watching it with some excellent visual fiends Jo who also blogs about vintage treasures she finds in grubby lorries, and Jaana, Estonian refugee and clever book designer, and we were infatuated with the striking sets and spiky shapes and the superb sense of menace and expertly crafted creepiness throughout.

Made in 1920, it would have been around at the same time as the book's publication.

 

I was in Berlin to create an installation with artist Rachael Macarthur.  Thanks to Das Gift for hosting us, a super bar and gallery space in Neukolln with a Scottish slant.  Here are a few pics of what we created:

The Luminous Eye

I've recently started another blog alongside Kuriosas - I'm collecting portraits of eye catching, unusual people with an eclectic sense of style.  Last week I captured 70 year old artist George Skeggs on the streets of Covent Garden. I loved his wonderful purple accessories, artfully put together outfit and general chipper demeanour; his infectious creative energy put a spring in my step for the whole day

The blog is called The Luminous Eye and celebrates individuality, creative and unconventional styles, mavericks, eccentrics and really any intriguing folk I come across with a story to tell - which luckily in London is quite a few, and for some reason, they often seem to find me first.  Have a peek if you'd like to see more

1940's Funghi Book covers

I came across this cheeky duo at the market I run recently and was so charmed by the bold, pop graphics and supreme colour scheme I had to manhandle a customer who'd already bought them and ask if I could grab a few pictures (albeit dreary iPhone ones that don't do them justice) 

They were both printed in 1945, one of my favourite eras for lively and exciting surface design, but due to the psychedelic subject matter they somehow wouldn't look out of place amongst the tripped out fabrics of the late 60's / early 70's.

 The colours on the cover above made me think of a palette that swelled in popularity across graphics, textiles and ceramics just a few years on in the 1950's.  This handsome mid century ceramics set by German company Schlossberg used an almost identical colour scheme. 

Source: Obsessionistas

I would love an entire kaftan printed with these marvellous mushrooms, even if this would put me at risk of purchasing a bongo drum at a later date.

1930's Portugese Maths Book

One of my favourite recent finds - fantastic magentas on this pretty charming 1930's illustrated times tables pamphlet.  Found in a junk shop in Porto

Vintage French Illustration

I found this illustrated paper folder at a rural antique shop in Normandy a while back - I think Le Cygne Noir was a grooming product and am guessing this is from the 1940's perhaps

I loved the print quality up close, although the swan does start to look a bit sly at this proximity...

Bountiful hay bales, slumberous hamlets, handsome thatches, ancient antique shops and brocantes, Normandy bewitched me with it's idyllic chocolate box charm.

Happily, there was also a reassuring selection of guesthouses adhering to aggressive floral policies

I was also a bit enchanted by this incredibly quaint fairytale style house overlooking the sea in St Valery En Caux, the lettering on the sign, flowers and overall style are all typically Art Nouveau so date it to the early 1900's.  I think I'd like to retire here to watch the ocean from that top window whilst surrounded by a supreme selection of cheeses.

All of these pictures were taken on film on my favourite £2.50 1990's camera.  I've noticed it has a curious trick of cloaking nearly every image with a nostalgic wistful haze that somehow tempts you to remember that at that moment in time life was actually a gilded, glittering sea of existential euphoria, when in actual fact you had been suffering from severe heartburn after eating a misguided gigantic chocolate croissant half an hour before lunch.

I think I am actually totally at ease with this method of sugar coating existence though and believe some form of it is fairly compulsory - so grab one of these lo-fi wonders on eBay and live in your own 70's Terence Malick film forever.

1950's winter wrapping paper

Dazzling wrapping paper from the 1950's with a fantastic palette of acid brights and superb graphics. It also has an enjoyably cheap and crunchy feel to it.  Found at North London Vintage Market which I also organise.

I much prefer this technicolour version of winter.  I'm thinking of moving here shortly to spend my days skating around neon trees with a mysterious man in black until Spring.

Vintage John Donne book

I came across this handsome edition of John Donne's love poems recently in a Highgate charity shop. A choice example of mid-century book graphics, it was printed right on the half-century mark in 1950.

 

The points and diamond shapes made me think instantly of the iconic design of the Festival of Britain programme, which in 1951 was just a year later.

Recently celebrated by the Southbank Centre in a 60th anniversary event, the Festival of Britain was a landmark event of it's time, encouraging recovery, optimism and propserity after the war by showcasing the successes of Britons in Science, Technology, Architecture, Design and across the arts.

I was a bit excited to find a sniff of a love story within this tome too.  This was written inside the cover

And inside was a postcard from that time of Florence. 

I like to imagine B & M having a magical time skipping around in glamorous 1950's attire, reciting Donne poetry in the Plazza del Duomo and generally being in the throes of giddy romance.  I'm going to keep this memento safe for them.

Romanian Insect Orchestra

Yes, that is a beetle playing a cello, a snail playing a saxophone.....

......and a locust playing a xylophone

I found this insane little item on my trip to Cluj Napoca in Transylvania, Romania.  Saw it nestling in an Antiques market in the town and knew I had to grab it as in my opinion there aren't enough Eastern European musical insect ensembles around these days.  

It probably dates from around the 1940's or 50's. Hurrah for surreal ceramics!

Portugese book covers

I spent a week skipping around Porto in Portugal a while back and was cheered to find some playful book graphics lurking at flea markets and in musty back street shops.

Some colourful 1960's and 70's psychedelic numbers here:

 I was a little bewitched by these mysterious (and racy?) looking tomes, probably from the 1950's 

 

And approved of the all round abundance of turquoise colour schemes, hurrah!

Most of Porto's typography, signage and interiors are all still firmly lodged in the 1960's and 70's making it a pretty excellent retro excursion.  I also loved the splendid Art Deco sights dotted around the city that still look really quite glorious.

I was pretty charmed by some of the local characters who still seem to reside in the past too

We also went to a superb Art Deco villa on the outskirts of the city called Serralves, started in 1925 by Portugese architect José Marques da Silva and finally finished in 1944 for the Count of Vizela to reside in.  It has incredible examples of opulent 30's features and fittings as well as vast and ridiculously idyllic grounds replete with expertly coiffed lawns, wooded paths and a scented garden - this Count was a lucky chap.

We also tried this dubious local culinary beast - Franceshinas consist of dangerous levels of bread, ham, sausage, chipolata, steak and melted cheese complemented with a tomato and beer sauce and render you immobile for around 48 hours.

 Pretty vistas and rustic rambling galore