I'm guessing you've never made a jigsaw since your schooldays. Well, if you want to re-live that particular 'thrill', you can with the newly-launched Puzzle Clock.
Not that it's the most complex jigsaw you'll ever make – all you have to do is put together the 17 pieces (which are all sized the same) to create your wall clock. At least you get a choice of which colours go where.
The central piece houses the hands and also has room for the 1x AA battery for power. Yours for £45.
A piece of retro design that doesn't cost you a month's wages – indeed, the Acctim 50s-style wall clock is almost pocket money priced.
Available from Asda, the clock has those distinctive large 50s-style numbers for the time, sat on a black background around a spun metal centre disc, the whole thing coming in at around 30cm, in diameter.
And right now, it's reduced to clear at Asda online for a very cheap £14.99. I suspect it's not likely to be around long for that price.
I love the stylish simplicity of the William Plunkett WP01 sofa, perfect for a lazy Sunday in front of the TV.
This 1966 design is part of a system of similarly-designed items that can be used separately or as super-cool modular items (should you have a long wall to fill), this one featuring a high back, anodised aluminium legs and upholstered foam 'barrels' for that distinctive shape and comfort. if that's a bit too simple, armrests are available as an option.
Now reissued in various finishes by Twenty Twenty One, you can pick one up from £2,970.
Another great piece of discontinued design on eBay – the Verner Panton System 123 lounge chair.
Typically Panton, but not widely available these days – it was produced for Fritz Hansen in a variety of finishes back in 1973, produced up until 1989. This particular model has the high-end 'deluxe' finish, along with that chrome base that offers a 360-degree swivel. Or if you had a few, you can push together for a very special modular sofa.
Indeed, the seller has three of these, all available at the closing price to the successful bidder. How much will that be? Who knows – but the price is currently at a very affordable £106.
The MYTO Chair by Konstantin Grcic has recently been announced as the winner in the home furnishings of the Design Museum’s Brit Insurance Design Awards 2009. So it is obviously a new design, but it is not without its retro influences.
MYTO is a stackable chair, made from a single piece of plastic. It is a cantilever chair, which means it has no back legs to support its weight. Few designers have attempted to make these difficult chairs, but Grcic has now joined the ranks of Marcel Breuer and Verner Panton.
MYTO costs just over £185 in a huge array of colours including aubergine (pictured) which gives it a particularly Seventies look. Buy online from Made in Design.
Slightly unusual and certainly ahead of its time is the Flos Viscontea suspension light by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.
It was actually designed back in 1960, even if the looks are more in the way of 1970. For your money, you get a white powder-coated steel structure with a 'cocoon' resin used for the actual diffuser, protected by a transparent finish. All of which sounds a bit technical, so let's just stick with a strange and wonderful space age light fitting, able to hold up to a 100w light bulb for plenty of brightness.
Yours for £940.
