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Five 1970s-style table lamps at La Redoute

Five 1970s-style table lamps at La Redoute

1970s-style wall murals by Bobbi Beck

1970s-style wall murals by Bobbi Beck

Lego goes pop art with Robert Indiana’s Love

Lego goes pop art with Robert Indiana’s Love

Categories / Women's Fashion

Fourth Celia Birtwell for Topshop Collection

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The fourth instalment of Celia Birtwell for Topshop hits the high street and website on 11 August.

The prints featured in this collection include Gypsy Rose, Micklemas, Maison Marigold and Bluemoon. The dresses and blouses are similar styles and shapes to the previous collections, but new additions are a playsuit and jumpsuit in the Micklemas print. These have a decidedly 70s look and will take a bit more daring to wear than the other pieces.

Prices are a little more expensive than Topshop’s own range, with blouses costing £45-£55, dresses from £55, playsuits £75 and £100 for the jumpsuit.

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Categories / Food and Drink

Betty Crocker 1950s Recipe Cards

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The 1950s are held up at the gold age in home-making and in the USA, Betty Crocker is an icon of good housekeeping and home cooking. Of course, she is entirely fictitious, invented to sell more products, but her image remains a strong one in America.

The Betty Crocker Recipe Card set contains 55 recipe cards taken from her 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book. All-American favourites here include Fluffy Pancakes and Blueberry Pie, Pigs in Blankets and Pioneer Macaroni and Cheese. Presumably there will be a recipe for apple pie in there too.

The set costs $16.95 (just over £8) from the Urban Outfitters USA website.

Categories / Design and Interiors, Kids

Vitra Eames Elephant returns – in affordable polypropylene

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Vitra_elephant

Last year saw the release of the Eames Plywood Elephant from Vitra, which was designed in 1945, but never actually commercially issued. Just 1,000 were issued in 2007, all selling (and selling out) for £1,000. If you missed out on that, there’s a new Vitra Eames Elephant on the market for 2008 – and it’s cheaper.

The new version uses polypropylene instead of plywood, but keeps the same shape and dimensions. It’s ideal for a kids bedroom (it was originally intended as a toy) or as an eye-catching piece of home design in any room. And as it’s now made of plastic, you can even use it in the garden.

Sized at 76cm x 36cm (W) x 41cm (H) and in five colours, you can pre-order the new version now (for September delivery) for £139.95.

Find out more at the Utility Design website

Categories / Design and Interiors

Hi Sklo Lo Sklo – Czech glass design from the 1950s to the 1970s

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His last book was a must-buy for any budding collector of West German ceramics and now Mark Hill is looking at glass – Czech glass to be precise.

Hi Sklo Lo Sklo coincides with a Norfolk-based exhibition of Czech glass. If you can’t make it there, the book offers you pretty much everything you need to know about this seriously undervalued area, offering up a background to the industry, identifying key designs and indeed the manufacturers to look out for, including the Sklo Union group, Exbor, Borské Sklo, Harrachov, Skrdlovice, Moser and Zelezny Brod.

It also looks at the designers responsible for these mid-century gems (including Emanuel and Jan Beranek, Josef Hospodka, Vladimir Jelinek, Rudolf Jurnikl, Milan Metelak, Josef Svarc, Jirí Suhajek, Frantisek Vizner, Karel Wunsch, Vladimir Zahour and Frantisek Zemek) and highlights 200 classic pieces in full colour. A must-have for any fan of vintage glass, you can buy a copy directly from the author online for £20.

Find out more at the Sklo website

Categories / Design and Interiors, Homeware

Djinn Chairs and Sofas

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The Djinn chairs and sofas were used in the Space Station scenes in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was designed by Olivier Mourgue for the French company Airborne earlier in the 1960s.

Airbourne no longer exists but some authentic Djinn products are still around. At the moment, 20th Century Marks has various pieces available, including this sofa, a chaise, a chair without arms and stools. They are available in various colours, and have all been reupholstered.

If you would like to recreate that iconic look in your lounge, visit 20th Century Marks for further information.