Sondesign’s Etch Clock is another product that draws on childhood nostalgia.
This time the inspiration has come from the childhood toy, the spirograph, which enabled you to draw pretty patterns. Here the design has been etched onto the plywood face of the clock using a laser cutter.
The Etch Clock measures 30cm in diameter and is currently on sale at a discounted price of £26.24 (previously £34.99) at Nest.
Inspired by childhood summers at the seaside, Toby Sanders has designed this Beach Ball Lampshade.
The lampshade has been created using a real beach ball, but it has an inner shell that means it stays inflated, which in turn allows it to be used as a light (I don’t think you could recreate this at home with your own beach ball). The lampshade is available in a choice of two sizes; medium measuring 40cm diameter by 35cm high for £275 and large measuring 75cm in diameter by 60cm high and costing £500.
The Beach Ball Lampshade can be bought online from Lifestyle Bazaar.
For our regular feature of a retro cushion, this week I’ve picked these Andrew Martin Cushions.
Many of Andrew Martin’s designs have a retro influence such as the Jumbo Mugs we’ve written about before, but this collection mixes together traditional retro motifs (Stars and Stripes and Union Jack) with folk art from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The appliqué designs are mounted onto either red or brown linen cushions, measuring 60cm square.
The cushions cost £69 each from Amara,
These Beatnik Napkins are a rather silly but fun items for your summer entertaining.
The purple tissue napkins feature a cartoon drawing of a couple of hip Beatniks dressed in the uniform of black. They make the perfect tongue-in-cheek accessory for a barbecue.
They are sold in packs of twenty by Notorious Kitsch, priced £3.50 a pack. There is also a Hula design if retro tiki is more your style.
If you are looking for something interesting to read over the summer, then may I point you in the direction of “A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties” by Suze Rotolo.
If the name doesn’t immediately ring any bells, then the photograph on the cover will. Suze Rotolo was Bob Dylan’s girlfriend in the early 60s and is best known for appearing alongside a young Bob on the cover of Freewheelin. This is her memoir of that time, her relationship with Dylan when he was making the transition from folk singer to superstar and of her place as a woman in the Sixties. It isn’t a bitter, or gossipy story (which may disappoint some readers looking for the dirt on Dylan), but a rather thoughtful book written by someone who led an interesting life in her own right.
Amazon are currently selling the book for less than £4.
We’ve featured many a clock on these pages, but designer Adam Kay goes back a little further than the norm for the inspiration for his Ceiling Rose Clock.
This timepiece is a reinvention of the classic Victorian ceiling rose. It has been designed to look just as decorative as it is functional. It is made from lightweight cellular resin and measures 40cm in diameter.
Buy the Ceiling Rose Clock online from Rockett St George priced £47.
