Categories / Books, Design and Interiors, eBay watch

Celia Birtwell book by Celia Birtwell and Dominic Lutyens

Birtwell

Interestingly, no one has written a book on Celia Birtwell, so it's about time one turned up. Which happens to be this Celia Birtwell book by Celia Birtwell and Dominic Lutyens.

Part life story, part feature on her work, Celia Birtwell features personal photographs and sketches of Celia, her family and friends, especially from her 'bohemian' life in the 1960s and 70s and images from her long association with David Hockney as both friend and muse. Of course, the flipside is Birtwell the designer, with the book also offering up a multitude of examples of her fashion and home fabrics.

Quadrille publishes the 208-page book in hardback from 3rd October 2011, with Amazon doing discounted pre-orders for £20.99. Also, look out for Celia Birtwell: In Conversation at the V&A, which takes place on Friday 23rd September. Who knows…you might get a signed copy on the night.

Find out more at the Amazon website

Categories / Design and Interiors

Flora Dora – textile designs from the 1950s and 60s

Apples

Flora Dora is a new online shop selling the rediscovered textile designs of Sheila Bownas, dating from the 1950s and 60s.

Chelsea Cefai bought the archive containing over 200 designs of Sheila Bownas at auction and has since been working to bring them to a wider market. The store, Flora Dora, begins with two collections: the above print, 'Pip' is from the 1963 collection and is available as a print and over the page is 'Rosa' from the 1959 collection which is available as cotton drill. 

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Categories / Design and Interiors, Homeware

Klippan Adam and Eve Textiles

Adamandeve 
Acclaimed Swedish designers Bengt & Lotta have given their Scandinavian folklore style to another famous couple with their series of Adam and Eve Textiles for Klippan.

The illustration shows the first couple in their pre-fall state i.e. without clothes beneath an apple tree. The range includes a tablemat (£7.95), oven glove (£10.50) and apron (£27.50) with the design in silver-grey on a white background.

Buy them online at Illustrated Living.

Categories / Art and Photography

Merchant and Mills Notions artwork print

Postcards-2

A bit of a back story to explain this Notions artwork print: Merchant and Mills is a Drapers shop based in Hay on Wye. They sell all the dressmaking products you'd expect – from pins and scissors to thimbles and tape measures. They aim to source these from within the UK and are all sold and labelled with beautiful retro packaging. The packaging of these products, or 'notions', are what inspired this print. 

Look closely at the print and you'll see the charm of the packaging: beautifully detailed illustrations of the objects coupled with great traditional typography, that make the objects themselves instantly covetable. 

Surely the perfect print for anyone gifted with a needle, it costs £35.

Buy it online