A Scandinavian Sojourn

For a variety of favourable logistical reasons, we found ourselves on a flight to Gothenburg the other week, heading for a week of treasure-hunting.

The best time for hunting of course is summer, with the long days and plenty of barn sales (or 'loppis', as the Swedes refer to them) open for business.

From our base near Stenungsund, on the beautiful Bohuslän coast of Sweden, and despite it being the wrong end of summer (i.e. autumn!), we managed to plot a packed agenda of treasure-hunting. We revisited some of our favourite haunts, and found some fantastic new ones.

A rather picturesque lunch stop

The beautiful Bohuslän countryside

An industrial storeroom in Munkedal

The treasure that got away - not one for us!

A Swedish still-life study

Roaming the countryside definitely provided good hunting ground for treasure, but inspiration in the form of colours, design and graphics, also came in from a bit of sightseeing - both in Gothenburg and indeed the local supermarket...

Haga district, Gothenburg

He's SUCH a delightful object! (and sadly NOT for sale)

A bit of 'shabby chic', Gothenburg-style

'Fika' (coffee break) joint in Haga district, Gothenburg

Beautiful architecture in Gothenburg

Celebrating Scandi-cake style

One of many hundreds of 'pick 'n mix' offerings at the local supermarket

Those Swedes love their sweets

Vintage-style graphics

Some beautiful graphics on crispbread packaging

Within the space of five days, we accumulated chandeliers, desks, industrial side tables, rustic dining chairs, filing cabinets, vintage globes, dress mannequins, wooden children's toys, industrial anglepoise desklamps and a variety of vintage hooks and hat-racks.

Frenzied packing and organizing ensued - some of the items are already at LASSCO Ropewalk for sale (a vintage Scandinavian globe, a retro Danish chair), others are being prepared for sale at our Cornish workshop, and some of the larger items will be making their appearance on the shop floor next year.

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Globes, globes, globes (and a rather beautiful tambour-front cabinet)

At our logistics, um, depot/HQ

A giant abacus

A child's rocking horse

There's no place like home

It's good to have things around you that just make you feel at home. A smattering of chintz and a decorative touch never did an interior any harm (no matter what a renowned Swedish homewares chain might have us believe)...

Lighting is one of THE most important things to get right in making a house (or flat) a home. We spotted this quirky-looking oil lamp at a West Country farm sale. The application of a bit of imagination repurposes what originally looked like a (slightly battered) three-legged alien lifeform into something rather more domestic.

 

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We've given it a respray, converted it to electric, and rewired it with a contrasting burgundy flex to make it look a bit more contemporary.

  

We are very choosy about the tables we buy, but this 19th century gate-leg table had all the right qualities. Made of pine, rather than the more common oak, it retains all its layers of old paint, giving it that much sought-after patina of age.

  

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This is a very practical space-saving piece of furniture, worthy of any home, old or modern.

 

'Simple yet elegant' best describes this Oxford framed mirror. Made of pitched pine, and decorated with small brass rosettes in each corner, it is nice example of the late Victorian Gothic style.

 

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It has been repainted and clear-waxed. It takes it's place in our eclectic current stocklist of mirrors.

It was the beautiful vintage fabric on this relatively simple folding three-panel screen that caught our discerning eye.

 

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The lovely printed linen features classical swags, ribbon bows, and puttis astride dolphins - very much in the 18th century style, despite dating from the late Victorian/Edwardian era. The little bits of wear to the fabric simply enhance the antique qualities of this piece of furniture. It may even earn the dreaded 'shabby chic' label. A boudoir essential!

How cute are these? A pair of vintage carved wood bookends, in the form of two patient terriers happily standing guard over your favourite set of books.

 

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Originally produced as tourist souvenir items in the Alpine/Black Forest regions of Europe, they are carefully crafted in wood with inset glass eyes. We have a few examples of these, all with slight variations in size or pose (including one set of dachshunds!).

Trunks, chests and blanket boxes are always popular, functioning as characterful storage devices or as coffee-tables or side-tables. This one is a particularly classy example of a 19th century pine blanket box, retaining its original external green-black paintwork and, remarkably, its original Victorian lock and key.

  

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We have given it a fresh coat of paint internally and clear-waxed the exterior.

An industrial aesthetic

The clean lines of 20th century industrial furniture works well with contemporary interiors. Most of this sort of furniture that we come across dates from the inter- and post-war periods.

We were therefore excited to find these two early examples of draughtsman's chairs from a West Country printworks, which date from around 1910.

 

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They swivel and have a rise-and-fall mechanisms, as well has having an adjustable back rest. The beautifully mellowed oak and ash frames with steel fittings give them a true 'vintage' look.

Made from heavy, pressed steel, these World War II ammunition boxes have well outlived their original contents.

 

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We have applied a clear wax to them to accentuate their lovely patination and original stencilled specifications. Some are dated to 1943.
 

This old oak gymnasium stool makes a unique piece of furniture. Dating from the 1930's, it shows some signs of wear and tear, including a few scorch marks - perhaps some cold young scholar has sat on it too near to the stove...

 

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We always look out for vintage shop fittings from all eras on our travels. They make very stylish display cabinets for the home or for small shops and retail outlets.

This one probably dates from the 1960's, and is a really simply designed, practical counter display unit. It is open-backed, with three glass shelves and an oak base.

 

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The 1930's really was the age for elegant travel. This lovely aluminium suitcase with perfectly stitched leather handle looks like it ought to be gathered up with Agatha Christie's luggage for the Orient Express....

 

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Industrial style pieces always look even better when contrasted with something a little more decorative. When we source our stock, we also make a point to look out for decorative and unusual items to dress them with.

This vintage glass shop display head will look great in one of the cabinets we have for sale.

 

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We do of course often end up back with our pet subject - natural history. This cast resin table lamp dates from the late 60's/early 70's, and encases a perfect rockpool of shells, crabs, starfish, and seaweed. Magical!

 

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An eclectic offering

A selection of our latest stock for your perusal...

We found this Scandinavian office chair on one of our trips to Sweden last year.

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Dating from the 1950's, it is made of worked steel and moulded maple-veneered ply. A very stylish and practical piece of furniture, it swivels with an approximate 6 inch rise-and-fall, whilst the back-rest also swivels but with the added bonus of the angle of tilt being adjustable.

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The metalwork has been lightly burnished, and then sealed with a clear wax.

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A set of vintage, lightweight tubular steel sack wheels, dating from the early 20th century.

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When we first saw these, covered in rust, we saw their potential in those brilliant red wheels with solid white tyres. After burnishing the metalwork, we sealed the metal frame with a clear wax.

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We are always on the look-out for unusual items of stock, and this vintage poultry incubator certainly fits the bill.

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Dating from the early part of the 20th century, possibly 1920's, 'The Hebditch' must have been the bees-knees of farmyard technology in its day. Entirely constructed out of pine, with brass hinges and fasteners, it was built to last.

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We have slightly modified it to make it more practical for the home. It has been thoroughly cleaned, the original racks replaced with solid shelves, and an internal paint, now make it an attractive table/storage unit.

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We've been working with our local blacksmith Wilfy Sleep to produce some new furniture inspired by some of our finds. This steel shelf-unit has been made-to-measure to utilize two original 1930's panels of black glass.

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We then gave it a couple of coats of contrasting green paint to compliment the glass.

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This coat rack uses some vintage schoolroom hooks, which we've mounted onto a fragment of a reclaimed packing case from the 1940's.

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Some objects deserve to be described as works of art, no matter how common, practical, or mundane they may at first appear. This certainly applies to this beautiful set of Slazenger bowling balls from the 1920's/30's.

 

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The 8 boxed balls are made of Lignum Vitae, one of the densest, hardest, woods in the world, and are separately numbered with dots of bone or ivory set into the wood surface.

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The box that houses them bears the retailing mark of A.W. Gamage Ltd, a Victorian department store that once dominated Holborn, in London, until 1972.

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A Deco-looking lamp made from a converted farmhouse Tilley Lamp. Dating from the 1930's, it still retains most of its original chrome plating, but some of the underlying brass has rubbed through after many years of use. It has been rewired and given a new shade.

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