The second set of I like postcards are ready. There's cafe action and seaside fun ahoy. It's like a little holiday in your hand. A thousand thanks to davidthedesigner for working his magic once again.
Order now for Christmas.
The second set of I like postcards are ready. There's cafe action and seaside fun ahoy. It's like a little holiday in your hand. A thousand thanks to davidthedesigner for working his magic once again.
Order now for Christmas.
Flensted have been making supercool mobiles since 1954. They've got various ranges: kids, Bauhaus and Calder-inspired abstract ones, even some styllsh Christmas decorations (including Santa, above). My favourites are the Danish ones, with vikings, viking ships and the delightfully mournful Puffing Troll (above right) who will take all your troubles away. They're lightweight and pack flat so make great gifts for kids overseas. Buy from Danish Design and shops worldwide.
Clare Nicholson is a Glasgow-based designer specialising in vintage patterns and textiles. I like her matryoshka Christmas cards. She also does cushions, tea towels and lavender birdies. Available from her online shop, Miso Funky markets around Glasgow (there's one on Sunday in Sloan's) and soon, from Paperchase's Tottenham Court Road store.
More postcards, more George Square. Nothing To Write Home About is a collection of John Hinde postcards, put together by Susan Beale and Michelle Abadie. The messages on the back are included, so it's like dawdlr from 40 years ago. Designed as "a photographic album, a social record, an historical document, humorous tourism, a celebration of Britain, a trip down memory lane, it celebrates the exquistness of the everyday". Part of the proceeds go to Carers UK and there's a celebrity postcard auction at the start of December. Available from Amazon and other good bookshops.
Belle & Sebastian have made a great 2008 calendar featuring all their favourite places in Glasgow. They've chosen well - some of my favourite places are in there too, like the Queen's Cafe on Victoria Rd with its wonderful ice cream cone window display and that great little 1930s street in the Transport Museum. It's a picture of the real Glasgow, not the tourist version and brings together a great city and a great band. Yours for £10 from the B&S Shop.
Pete Fowler, he of much sterling work for the Super Furry Animals, has made some lovely little pets. There are 8 different ones with an owner to look after them. Hard to tell who's the cutest. They're a very reasonable £8 per pair (in a pet food-style can) or £60 for the set. Order from Playbeast.
There's a bit of a tea/cake theme emerging with the Christmas shopping list. Bugs and fishes from Gloucerstershire makes wonderful felt brooches. Many are cake/biscuit-related but there are others like acorns and conkers for autumn and a fine array of felt moustaches. She also makes recycled stationery from old magazines and maps. All available on Etsy.
More stylish gifts - K8 Telephone Box tea towels from The Twentieth Century Society. £12 the pair, plus a brief history of the phone box by Gavin Stamp. Order today! (PDF).
Bruce Martin’s K8 was the last red, cast iron telephone box ever to be constructed in the UK. As such it represents the final stage in the lineage of a design that has become nothing short of a global icon, a symbol of Britain. In the same manner that Gilbert Scott modernised his K2 for his 1936 K6 kiosk, so Bruce Martin reworked Scott’s classic K6 ‘Jubilee’ kiosk for a new era – responding to the most complex brief ever issued for a piece of street furniture.Vandal-proof, weather-proof and easy to maintain– the K8 should have been the modern equivalent of the 1930’s K6. But when BT began de-commissioning boxes in 1984 – K8’s were the first in the firing line and at the time, were too young to be protected by English Heritage’s 30 year listing rule. - 60's icon faces extinction.
Proceeds help the K8 campaign to preserve the phone boxes, and develop the Twentieth Century Society's website. I was their web administrator for a while and can confirm that they're doing a difficult job on a shoestring. Phone box fiends may also enjoy Kiosk Korner.
Every year, I peak too soon for Christmas. I get really excited around now (or October, usually), feel guilty because everyone's moaning about it coming earlier every year, don't do any shopping for fear of social stigma and then when it's a respectable (last minute) time to shop I don't feel like it. So I thought I'd start thinking at least, and tagging anything that catches my eye (with the word Shopping). This year I'd like to support small traders and independent shops, particularly British ones. If you can buy online, even better. I've got a few to mention but would like tips. Something lovely and unique please, and not too pricey.
So following on from Present & Correct and We Live Here comes All The Fun of The Fair based in London's Kingly Court. They make brilliant hand-knitted creations like the festive paper chain above, or supercute knitted cupcakes. The Knit Your Own Bunting kit is an all-year round festive must have.
We Live Here from Sheffield make wonderful art prints, t-shirts and accoutrements featuring risky modern buildings. The prints feature Owen Luder's Get Carter car park in Gateshead, soon to be demolished apparently, Sheffield's Egg Box, New Roxy Disco and Cooling Towers, remaindered from a long gone power station. If you like these, wait 'til you see the memorial Sheffield Castle Market Greasy Spoon Mug.
Deep joy. Thanks Simon James for the tip (via Creative Review blog).
Here's a lovely thing. An ABC of endangered species in the British Isles arranged in a very beautiful A2 wallchart. This is the handiwork of Present & Correct, a design company from Kentish Town. £1 for every one sold goes to The National Trust, for new hedges and dormice boxes.