Category: Design and Interiors

Categories / Design and Interiors

Urban Outfitters’ supersized retro calculator

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UO calculator

With its retro looks and nice colours, this calculator from Urban Outfitters seems both a pretty and helpful way to tackle your sums.

However, order the calculator online and you might be in for a bit of a shock when it shows up: it's actually a supersized standard calculator and its length is a massive 22cm long! Its size will obviously make it less easy to loose it under a mountain of paperwork. 

Admittedly this gimmick isn't to everyone's tastes but if you like your 1970s-style at twenty-first century sizes, the calculator costs £15.

Buy it online

Categories / Design and Interiors, Travel

Zandra Rhodes Teepee for Millets

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Zandra Rhodes teepee

Think of someone associated with camping and the outdoors life and Zandra Rhodes definitely isn't first person that springs to mind. Surely another sign (if you needed one) that camping is now considered cool is the fact she's now done a range with Millets which includes this striking teepee. 

The teepee is decorated with the bright colours and the bold pattern you'd associate with Rhodes and the design draws on her love of Native American folk art. The teepee has a central pole and sewn-in ground sheet, though it's not clear how many people it sleeps, and is sure to be as well seen at the festivals this year as the Celia Birtwell or the Cath Kidston tents from previous years, not least because the shocking pink colour should help you spot it easily. 

The teepee is the first in Rhodes' range for Millets that will eventually also include chairs, wellies and a flask. It costs £119. 

See it online

Categories / Design and Interiors, eBay watch

eBay watch: 1960s William Plunkett lounge chairs

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Plunkett

We have featured a William Plunkett WP01 sofa of this style in the past, which sells new for just under £3,000. So you can see how much of a bargain these William Plunkett lounge chairs could be.

Presumably from the same era as the sofa, which makes it a mid-60s design, the chairs can be used separately or combined to make a modular seating unit. All have heavy metal frames with a white finish and what's described as 'leatherette bubble cushions'. I would have thought an original Plunkett would have been leather – you might want to check that out.

If it is a genuine Plunkett design (and the seller is retailing it as one), the current price of £50 per chair is something of a bargain.

Find out more at the eBay website

Categories / Design and Interiors

Ikea’s Aalto-inspired outdoor Blanko stools get a splash of colour

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Blanko

We did feature these last year, but as the Ikea Blanko stools have had a colour makeover, we thought they were worth flagging up again. And of course, because they're an absolute steal.

As we mentioned previously, the stools are not dissimilar to the classic Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto, a modernist piece dating back to 1933 and likely to cost you the best part of £100.

This isn't that, but you get the look, the option to use outside (powder-coated steel with a hole for water to drain easily) and some colour – specifically blue or red. All of that for just £8.99, which makes it just about the cheapest way to get some modernism into your home.

Find out more at the Ikea website

Categories / Design and Interiors

John Lewis retro-styled Barbican armchair

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Barbican1

Another retro gem from this year's John Lewis range – the Barbican armchair.

Mixing 50s styling with plenty of comfort, the Barbican has planty of curves and a high back, aided by a wood frame and fibre-wrapped, zig zag sprung foam seating. Cosette Green fabric finishes things off, along with those period splayed legs in oak.

Available online, it sells for £699. Another image over the page.

Find out more at the John Lewis website

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Categories / Design and Interiors

Green Space beach towel by Ben de Lisi at Debenhams

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Ben de Lisi beach towel

It's not really the weather to be heading to the beach though if you're lucky enough to be heading off to catch some sun abroad season or just want a retro look to fit in with the rest of your home, you may fancy this Green Space beach towel, part of Ben de Lisi's range at Debenhams.

Like the rest of the range, which includes the Blocks mug featured at end of last year, it's got a distinctively 1950s feel. In fact, looking at its graphic design, if it wasn't a towel you could almost hang on your wall as a piece of art! 

Even better news is that the towel is currently reduced to £9.60. 

Buy it online