Admittedly, picnics and camping are probably pretty far from our minds as we see out the last days of winter, but it is good to plan ahead and this set of Folklore Enamel Tableware is ideal for stylish outdoor dining.
The collection consists of a black teapot/coffeepot, a pink and black mug and plates in a choice of pink or black. They are all decorated with a traditional folkloric pattern of flowers and birds.
The mug costs £5.95, plates £8.95 and the pot £14.95, from Colloco.
Jane Foster Designs have been mentioned here before including her toy cats. In a similar vein, are her Retro Fabric Lions, a great gift for a child or decoration for your shelves.
The faces of the lions have been screen printed onto the fabric, then their bodies are made from various types of vintage or retro patterned fabric. Styles include a 1950s diamond pattern, Orla Kiely’s striped petal print and heart patterns.
The lions cost £12 from the Jane Foster website.
If you called your design 'Jazz', you're expecting something eye-catching and that's the case with this Jazz bed linen by Linea, available at House of Fraser.
It's certainly colourful, with its use of pink, and the lines of its pattern could well be explained by a Jazz Age influence. However, it's also reminiscent of the 1960s Lucienne Day bed linen we featured earlier in the month and the Op-Art style lines of this design could suggest a sixties influence too. Whatever era you attribute its influence to, it's an undeniably eye-catching pattern.
Prices start at £10 for a pillowcase and £35 for a single duvet cover.
Buy it online
London's Brompton Road is having a series of interesting pop-up events at the moment. As well as the Skandium sale shop earlier this month, it's now hosting the Ascher Studio pop-up display.
Zika Ascher is well known for his role in the fabric industry in the twentieth century, providing fabric for everyone from Dior to Mary Quant. He's especially celebrated for the 'Artists Squares' series, when from the mid-Forties to the mid-Fifties he invited 51 artists such as Henry Moore, Picasso and Barbara Hepworth to design scarves – with the aim that contemporary art would in turn inspire innovative textile design.
Remember this really cool London Print by Jim Datz at Pedlars? Well, the same artist is behind the latest Herb Lester Associates vintage-style map, going by the name of Where The Sidewalk Ends: How to find old New York.
Yes, following on from the likes of the 1960s London, You Are Here and May We Help You? maps, this is the firsr trip outside the Uk, with Datz providing the vintage-style imagery for what's described as 'a guide to the New York you’ve always wanted to see but feared might have disappeared for good'.
Expect Edward Hopper diners and down-at-heel dive bars, overstocked grocery stores and mountainous pastrami sandwiches. From Patsy’s Pizzeria in Harlem, to the Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown, taking in along the way Katz's, the '21' Club and McSorley's Old Ale House to name just a few places. It is A3 (297x420mm) folded to A6 (105x148mm), and litho printed on recycled paper. Price? Just £3.
Want your vintage denim to look genuinely vintage? You need a pair of these Levi's Vintage 1954 501 Jeans, which look like they have been around for a number of years.
First up, the history, These are based on an archive pair of 'pitchfork' jeans from 1954, when Levi's added a zip to the 501 to boost market appeal. Not everyone was keen on the zip, so the 501 reverted to button or zip. So this is an archive design featuring said zip from 57 years ago.
It's made from washed 12oz red selvage denim, complete with hand-finishing to add the wear and distress (for 'age'), along with the classic 501 shape, concealed pocket rivets and double needle stitching. £169 gets you a pair.
