Are you being served?

In times gone by, every town would have its own gentlemen's and ladies' outfitters. The well-stocked department store of the late 19th/early 20th centuries would be decked out in an array of cabinets, drawers, specialist fixtures and bespoke fittings, to display their goods for sale to the hoards of punters.

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In the same way that old factory furniture has been adopted for the domestic home, vintage shop fittings make très chic interior furnishings. Despite the sad demise of the 'Are You Being Served?' approach to retail, many of the original fittings from these shops have survived, surely a testament to the high quality of their production and use of high quality materials such as mahogany and oak.

First up is this lovely, original tailor's dummy from the 1930s. It's in excellent condition, and full adjustable, so it could also be quite useful in a proper, dressmaking sense (although why cover it up?).

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Next up, a totally practical full-length mirror with a dose of style mixed with a dash of class. This Modernist-styled mirror from the 1940s is double-sided with a tubular steel frame.

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And what would one carry ones purchases home in? Putting the subject matter to one side (yikes - poor Mr Squirrel!) we just had to get this vintage paper bag framed up, for the classic lettering and design.

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Happy Shopping!

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!

Bon Voyage!

First blog of 2011 in February?!? Rather 'slow off the blocks', no?

Not at all - as the country has been dragged reluctantly from the super-long Christmas/New Year break and into 2011, (well done everyone for making it through January, the bleakest month of the year), we have been busy gathering up some excellent ranges of stock, the first batch of which is featured here for your delectation and delight.

High on the list of favourite activities for January has to be planning a whole new set of travels and adventures for the year ahead. Not sure if travel by steam liner is up there on your list, but the travel apparatus of yesteryear doesn't half make for some interesting home accessories.

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Vintage luggage looks great, and whilst may not be totally practical in the 'budget airline weight restrictions' sense, it can still have a whole host of practical uses, namely as extremely stylish storage.

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We couldn't resist these two fantastic ex-Services shipping trunks. They are of American manufacture, and date from the 1940's. And boy were they built to travel. Solid timber, with steel reinforced edges and corners, they come with thick leather carry handles, and a substantial brass lock. Fortunately for us (and for whoever becomes their next lucky owner) we have the keys for both of them.

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The reason they look SO good of course, is down to the patina of age. There's sixty years' worth of wear and tear, evident in the remnants of luggage labels, hinting at some of the exotic locations they have travelled to: Buenos Aires, Paris, Maidstone (?).

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Oh, and did I mention, we managed to fit in a trip to Brussels over New Year, to get our mitts on some eclectic and fabulous treats including a great opaline 'starburst' light, and a range of striking African masks? Watch this space....

Happy Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

Thank you for all your support through our first 8 months of blogging. Looking forward to sharing lots of delightful objects with you all throughout 2011 (and beyond....).

Love Marc & Pauline
xx

At Home for Christmas

Our last stock delivery of 2010 is imminent - we've been transporting some lovely new loot up to our showroom at LASSCO's Brunswick House for the last couple of weeks and a whole heap of parcels of various shapes and sizes will be arriving on Wednesday!

The latest additions to our print ranges are these 1920's colour lithographs featuring various modes of transport. They're all framed up and ready to be dropped into a lucky person's stocking (by Santa, naturally).

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There's more to festive lighting than fairy lights, as this 1960's desk-lamp proves. Well, perhaps the link is a tiny bit tenuous, but we see a distinct 'Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer' inspiration... This 1960's desk-lamp is currently being rewired and will be gracing the showroom soon.

If you're expecting a crowd over the festive period, it's most important to ensure there are adequate seating arrangements - maybe a few luxuriously upholstered bar stools in fruit pastille-tastic colourways??

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These retro teak bar stools have been re-upholstered in vintage velvets by our good friend Sarah Brunner. We're selling them individually, although we like the en masse 'harlequin' look...

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Come and visit us at Brunswick House - we are sure to have a delightful object suitable for the delightful people on your gift list!

Deck the Halls... with Delightful Objects

The search for the perfect Christmas gift is on, and so we've got a Bumper Blog of goodies to tempt you.

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This old hotel laundry basket makes a great place to stash your Christmas goodies. After Christmas, give it a new lease of life as a splendid log basket or blanket box for the end of the bed.

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Desktop adornment is a great way to amuse and distract the desk-bound worker in your life. We've had quite a few of these mini tin-plate globes in stock in the past, and have got a good selection of mini-globes and larger, more impressive specimens in stock now.

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Christmas is, of course, for the children. As everyone knows, the kids are usually just as happy with the boxes the gifts arrive in, so let them amuse themselves with those whilst you admire these rather lovely, traditionally-made wooden toys.

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We have plenty more Delightful Objects for sale - happy foraging!

P.S. Our festive banner at the top of this blog is taken from a stash of vintage wrapping paper that we saved from a dedicated recycler! We'll be featuring a few more in our next blog - watch out for Santa delivering presents in his helicopter, his vintage car, and of course the traditional rocket/spaceship...