All Things Bright and Beautiful

How can you spot a 'Delightful Object'? Well, it might be its age, design, patina, functionality, or sometimes simply its colour. An object's colour can reflect both the era in which it was produced and the market it was produced for. Maybe it was advertising a product, or catching a child's gaze in a toy shop window. Here are some of our most vibrant items in stock at the moment...

Originally designed by the infamous Robin Day for furniture makers S. Hille & Co. in 1963, these polypropylene stacking chairs are iconic pieces of design, seen everywhere from schools and hospitals to restaurants, cafés, and airports.

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They've been so successful, they've never gone out of production, merely evolving with subtle design changes. These vibrant child-size examples were known as the 'E-Series' designed for educational establishments in 1972, and their size graded by a letter of the alphabet alongside the Hille trademark underneath the seat. The orange ones here are a 'B', whilst the blue ones are very small nursery school size 'A".

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What could be more dramatic than that (terribly British) red/white/blue combo? We always try and have a few framed vintage Union Flags in stock - they make such great, vibrant wall decorations. This large framed flag is over four feet wide, and was brought back from one of our trips to Canada. It's in perfect 'tatty' condition - complete with authentic faded edges and the odd tiny rip or hole.

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BIG and BRIGHT RED! We love these vintage homemade wooden toy trains for dressing our showroom. They add an essential colour accent to a minimal monochrome scheme, which is probably why they sell so quickly... or is it that they tap into people's nostalgia for a long-lost childhood?

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Funky, red, AND with shiny bits! We just had to buy this child's sledge when we saw it on one of our trips to Sweden. A basic yet sophisticated child's sledge dating (we think) from the 1950s - it's crude steering mechanism pivots the front left or right. Whether it ever sees any snow is questionable, but hey, it looks great just to have it to look at!

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We bought these two enamel signs because of their great graphic qualities. Using the classic Automobile Association black and yellow colour scheme, they combine deco-style patterned borders with bold '50's typography. They really are in nice condition too!!

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It was particularly beautiful teal blue that this old 1930's pine stepladder had been painted that meant we simply had to have it! It's a sturdy number, and as you can see it makes an excellent bookshelf.

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No prizes for guessing what this nifty bit of advertising was selling. Worthy of being framed, this gorgeous 1940's cardboard advert in the shape of a bar of Palmolive Soap, is still as vibrant as the day it was printed.

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A Place for Everything

Over the past month, we've been busy working not only on getting new batches of stock ready for sale, but also on completing some essential maintenance work on our workshop. Appropriately enough, a large proportion of some of our most recently acquired delightful objects began their lives as well-loved, and well-used pieces of furniture in other peoples' workshops.

Sourced from farm sales and from house, shed and garage clearances, these handmade items of furniture are unique. Often they are of a bespoke design, made specifically to maintain order in the countless collections of nuts, bolts, screws, nails and prize tools that workshops have the tendency to generate.

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Even in a supposedly 'paperless' office/home, somehow there are still endless bits and pieces that we want to keep out of sight yet in glorious order. Makes sense then, to try to do this as stylishly as possible. How convenient that having lovely sets of industrial metal drawers, pigeon-holes, wooden filing cabinets and banks of drawers will do just the job.

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The design and construction of these pieces makes them reliable and practical, but we maintain that it's their great original paint and colour finishes that really elevates them to being beautiful pieces of furniture. Invariably they were painted, touched up and repainted with the 'odds and ends' of paint found left over in paint cans around the workshop, and it's this patina of 'making do' that we like to hold on to.

Industrial metal cabinets and racks are always popular for their clean lines and modern finish, but we do like to retain some of their original paintwork if possible. Where it isn't possible, they look equally stylish after a light burnish to remove rust and grease.

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We can't think of any practical reason why someone would design, and go to the considerable trouble of building, this unit - we've never seen diagonal drawers before! This quirky design reflects an inventive design mind, and shows how the humble workshop cabinet can be realized as an original, yet simple, piece of furniture.

Each drawer is divided, so it was clearly designed with a specific purpose in mind.

A place for everything, and everything in its place!