Tatty Devine produce a range of jewellery that is, shall we say, interesting. The current collection includes this Rubik’s Cube Bracelet.
Made from dismantled cubes from the favourite puzzle of the 1980s, it is a bold piece of jewellery, certainly not one for the understated dresser.
It costs £36 and is available from Tatty Devine’s website.
I will admit to being somewhat sceptical when I first saw the RAF Collection catalogue that fell out of my Sunday supplement.
The adult’s clothing is a pretty grim assortment of polo shirts and fleeces, but in the section for boys, there is this cute RAF Target Print T-shirt.
A white t-shirt with classic blue, white and red target symbol, it has a distressed look to give it a bit more character. A good value t-shirt for the mini mod in your family, it costs £5 from the RAF Collection.
Shaped like an old-fashioned television, the kind with antennae aerial on top (like Evil Edna from Willo the Wisp), this TV Photo Frame will make a good stocking filler. Especially for anyone who has ever fancied seeing themselves on television!
Available in black or white, it is double-sided allowing you to choose between two photographs to display. The inlay that comes with the frame is of the old test card which looks pretty good too.
It costs just £5 from Home Temptations.
A quick internet search for ‘Book of Lights’ seems to bring up quite a bit of religious literature rather than this quirky product, an interesting take on a lamp.
Open up an antique looking book and up pops a light. There is a choice of either a table lamp with a fabric shade, the type which might be found in any forties or fifties home, or a street lamp, again of the retro kind. The Book of Lights might make a nice companion piece to the Book Shelf we featured last week.
The table lamp design costs £76.50 and the street lamp £84.50 and both can be purchased from Pedlars.
Mugs, cups and plates are a staple here but we’ve not, to my knowledge, featured cutlery before. To rectify that may I suggest this Gingham Cutlery Set from Debenhams.
It is a 16 piece set (4 each of knives, forks, spoons, and teaspoons) with a delightful gingham print on the handle. Available in red or blue gingham pattern, it will suit a kitchen with a 1950s style.
Sets cost a very reasonable £15 from the Debenhams’ website.
While children plead for and parents stress over whatever this year’s ‘must have’ toy is, remind yourself of the toys that caused a stir back in the 1980s. "Just Can’t Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the ’80s That Rocked" is full of memories of the fads and crazes from that decade.
There are chapters devoted to Care Bears, Scratch n Sniff stickers, Strawberry Shortcake, the Garbage Pail Kids, Alf and He-Man. Each section explains the concept (The Story), the products and its cultural relevance and impact (What Did It All Mean?), which makes it sound more intellectual then it is!
For anyone who grew up in the 1980s, it will no doubt raise a smile or two, but for anyone already a grown-up by then, its contents’ appeal will be as mystifying as today’s obsessions. It is available on Amazon for under £7.
