An interesting piece of vintage art on the V&A website – the Jack Kerouac On The Road poster.
It’s actually the sleeve art for the 1958 publication of the beat generation classic, published by Andre Deutsch. And the artist might surprise you too – it was Len Deighton. Yes, that Len Deighton, before he moved into bestselling novels himself.
Sized at 59cm x 84cm, you can pick one up for £15.
OK, the summer is almost over, but if you’re heading off a spot of late sun – or just want to plan ahead for next year – you can pick up this Vespa beach towel.
And it’s a very smart item, using a repeated retro-styled apple design to great effect, sneaking in a ‘Vespa’ apple at the bottom. It’s made of 100 per cent cotton that’s both soft and highly absorbent, measuring 100 x 150cm.
Available online for 42 Euros (around £28).
Bars are back in- and if you have a bar, you need an ice bucket. And they don’t get much more stylish than the Dulband ice bucket by Alessi.
It’s a design that dates back to 1973, with the designer being Enzo Mari. But it still look contemporary today with its stainless steel casing, food-safe blue melamine interior, lid and pierced spoon (so you get ice rather than water).
Like just about every other piece of classic design, it comes at a price – in this case, £145.
Bye Bye Tokyo has some interesting t-shirt designs, as well as some smart tote bags, including these Bullit and Dirty Harry tote bags.
Yes, I said ‘Bullit’ – the design might be good, but the spelling of the movie title seems to be lacking a second ‘t’. Still, no-one but the biggest of film buffs will notice. The Clint bag is a white design on black, the Steve McQueen bag is black on white, with both bags sized at 40 x 38cm (excluding the handle).
And both are on sale, priced at 13.90 Euros, which is around £9.50.
Find out more at the Bye Bye Tokyo website
For cheap and quirky design, you really need these Lego salt and pepper pots.
Just like your standard salt and pepper dispensers, they come in black and white to identify their use, have the Lego logo on top and if you happen to be short on space on the table, they clip together just like your usual Lego bricks.
Sized at 45mm x 25mm x 25mm and weighing 70g, they retail for $9 (around £4.50).
Find out more at the Brando website
Debenhams isn’t the first place you would think of for retro design, but if you wander round the home department, you will encounter this wonderfully 70s-inspired Silver Sphere ceiling light.
Very much in the tradition of the Sputnik lights, this space age light has 19 10w halogen lights to brighten up your room, along with a chrome finish and an adjustable drop up to 50cm.
For high street, this isn’t cheap at £250, but it’s certainly an eye-catching piece of design that would set off any large room.
Find out more at the Debenhams website
