January inevitably is all about going back to work, and often a few attempts at organisation too. Give that process a bit more style, and make it a whole load more fun with these Scooter paperclips by Midori.
Tag: Japanese
Hello Kitty Liberty Art Fabrics
The latest addition to the Liberty Art Fabrics Collection is a rather unlikely collaboration with Hello Kitty.
Lilliput Robot collectible from Bodie and Fou
We've had a design influenced by retro robots only recently, with Clifford Richards' clocks, but you can pick up a replica of one of the original toy robots from Bodie and Fou who are selling this Lilliput Robot collectible.
The Lilliput robot first appeared in Japan in the 1940s and was thought to be the first mass produced robot toy. This replica of that first robot, produced by Fantastic & Co, includes a wind-up key that allows the robot to move forward with its arms swinging.
Strictly a piece for adults, rather than kids, the robot costs £9.95
Buy it online
Skk Lighting 1960s-style robot lamp
Skk Lighting, the brand of lighting consultant Shiu-Kay Kan, does a good line in fun products – lights in the shape of everything from skulls to dinosaurs – but the inspiration for this little creature came from a 1960s tin Japanese toy robot. The shape has been replicated from plastic and, when the bulb is on, gives a glow perfect for a spot of night reading.
A great little piece of design, the lamp sells for £59.
Buy it from Liberty
Takashi Furuya poster range at Illustrated Living
If you liked the Have a Nice Day London Bus poster we featured earlier in the year, you may be interested to hear that Illustrated Living are stocking a wider range of posters by Takashi Furuya. All his work has a retro feel but while that poster looked like it came from a British artwork tradition, the four posters shown here are made to look deliberately Scandinavian.
The poster in the top right is another variation on the Have a Nice Day message – this time in Swedish. The top left image represents Love, the poster of the boy with the bottle of drink who looks like he stepped straight from an advert carries the phrase for 'delicious', while (believe it or not) the man in the bottom right shows an optimist. Something to appeal to everyone then!
Each poster costs £14.95 from Illustrated Living
