Larsson mania

We love Lisa Larsson's ceramics - have managed to restrain ourselves to just a couple of little pieces at home, but get a bit antsy whenever we see others for sale ... so hard to justify buying little pottery knick-knacks, but they're so sweet!

Lisa is a Swedish ceramic designer who started at Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory in 1953. Since 1980 she has worked as a freelance designer and sculptural artist.  A distinctive style with a unique charm, her abstracted animal forms are the Scandinavian equivalent of our local maestros Ellis and Gus McLaren. 

Our new shipment from Sweden has put us in an awkward position, can we justify expanding our own collection, or should we share?

 

As well as the great little dogs and her cuter than cute people, we're lucky enough to have a couple of big pots and lamps she designed for Gustavsberg in the early 70's ... keep an eye out - they'll be popping up on the website this week (just waiting for the photos to come back from the chemist).

Another score ...

In our continuing challenge to see if there is actually such a thing as 'too many chairs' we scored another Bruno Mathsson chair on ebay a few weeks back ...

She had fallen victim to a pretty rough re-stretching of her canvas, so was kind of wonky and skewed, but still all original.  We dismantled and re-aligned everything, and she's now ready to join her cousins the sofa and beautiful webbed chair in the bedroom at the farm.

Sure there are worse habits to have ... and while the good people of Melbourne are still not 'getting' the brilliance of Bruno's designs, we have to make hay!
 

oh, Bruno ...

After a year or so of enjoying the company of our Bruno Mathsson Pernilla chair (as anticipated on the blog a while back), we thought it was high time she had some company.  About a year ago we got a rare example of the Pernilla 3-seater sofa ... and it has only taken us 12 months to source the screws needed to assemble it.

Is it the craziest sofa you've ever seen?  Seats 3 in amazing comfort (but not so great to lie down across - think Bruno designed a day-bed for that purpose).  Just steamed birch and cotton canvas, good old Swedish sparrtan post-war design and manufacture.  Anyway - we love it, and won't be leaving it outside.

Just need to find some suitable fabric to make some new headrests now ... keep you posted.

the evils of shelving ...

We were chatting with some 'vintage fans' the other day, and the conversation turned (naturally enough) to 'what are you collecting these days?' ... both of them had a good specific answer - one was hunting 50's plastic squeeze-toys, the other was accumulating vintage ceramics by a specific Australian potter.

Both of us were a little less defined as to our current 'things'.  Looking around the house today I get the feeling that perhaps we are collectors of shelving, with a view to giving more homes to our collections of collections ...

Perhaps a sample or two?

 

 

 

 

Every flat surface seems to be an excuse to accumulate ... oh lordy.

trying to be strong ...

Saw a photo of a crazy and beautiful phone at that 224 collectibles auction in Sydney a couple of months back.  Never seen one before, and had been comfortable in the knowledge that we never would again ...

Then this one showed up on ebay this week.

It's in the UK, and would probably take some expert work to convert to work on Aussie phone-lines ... but still ...

Seriously - it's got to be one of the maddest telephones ever designed - 'Bobo' by Telcer, Italy.  And in green, dammit!

Being realistic, I don't think we can justify it - it's 180pounds plus another 30 or so for shipping - even the maddest collectors have to have limits, don't they?

Torture ... if you see one for a more reachable price, please let us know!

collecto-mania

We haven't been up to Sydney for a while, but have oft admired the wares of 224 - Lucas Callaghan's store in Bondi - on the net.  By the looks, they have just had a major sellup via auction.

Amongst a clearly passionate collector's collection of classic 20th century collectibles were some amazing and quirky bits and pieces ... wish we'd been there with the means to bid.

Maybe it's for the best we missed it ... that would have to be the coolest phone ever, though.

new chairs ...

So our farmhouse decor is decidedly stuck on a theme - pretty much everything in the lounge and dining areas is woody and/or forest-green.  It's a scheme that gives the room a calm sort of cave-ish feel, and it definitely links nicely to the eucalypts that grace the view from every window.
It sort of just worked out that way, started with our super-amazing dining chairs, who have reigned for a few years now ...

... and we have let fate keep it rolling - the right piece, with it's original upholstery in the right green.

So we felt pretty lucky to come into possession of a set of dining chairs this week fitting the criteria.  They're a style we have always admired - Model #26 by Parker, made in 1963 - and of the set of 4, there are 2 needing serious restoring.  In the interim, of course, the other 2 were looking for a home (guess it will be temporary - once the damaged pair are back to full health they may have to join a matching table we have in the shop).

We have seen these chairs a few times over the years, and always thought they were enormous ... almost too big for a regular room.  Just last week we brought in a new dining table however, and the table's pretty much big enough to bring any chair down to scale.
So there you go - another bit of 60's green fabric that means we need to make space in the house.  Thanks universe!

logistics, eh?

Well ... the race has been run and won ... who would have though that a container of vintage furniture from Sunny Scandinavia would be able to sail halfway 'round the globe, pass thru customs, and take a truck-ride all the way to the farm faster than a pile of bits of tin ("yeah, mate, it'll take a couple of days to put up ... three at the most.") could be assembled into shed form?

EXHIBIT A (truck manouvering around bits of shed)

EXHIBIT B (photo taken standing atop container)

So there you go ... all good 'zen' training for us - a big steel box full of beautiful mid-century bibs'n'bobs, and we can't open it to unpack ... yet!

just wow ...

Nobody can deny that there's an art to good storage, but Swedish artist Michael Johansson has made it ART.  We saw a few of his pieces featured on 'What's blogging my view' (Janne, a Norwegian blogger with a GREAT eye), and had to follow up.

Johansson combines collecting and curating and colour-coding and compacting so well ...

For those of us with a nasty habit of accumulating more than we can accommodate, his work is pretty inspiring, and the mix of scales is cool too.

Sadly, though we share some of his principles in filling our garage with our finds, the lack of open space around our stacks means we're not quite at exhibition levels yet.  Great stuff though!

more reasons why 2010's not so bad ...

so, we are totally blessed to have a like-minded friend on the other side of the world who helps us with our chair-sourcing ... he's got very similar taste in design to us, plus the energy to scour and hunt for hidden gems.  and he found us ...

we're not label-snobs looking for 'designer' items (heck - we appreciate design, but it ain't the label that gets us excited), but we can't believe that we will be sharing our lives with the lovely 'pernilla 2' by Mr Bruno Matthsson.  1941 - that's crazy! 

the next shipment should be here in late march, all going according to plan ... not sure that pernilla will be on display in our store tho' - haven't met her yet, but i think it might be true love.

travel safe baby!

Let's get over to Hamburg!

Just been checking out this amazing shop in Hamburg, Germany ... imagining that one day we'll get Know Your Product looking this amazing.

The store's called 'Wohnkultur66' - and is run by a couple named Martina and Manfred - and specializes in Scandinavian mid-century furniture.  They stock a nice mix of pieces from some of our favorite designers - Wanscher, Juhl et al - and their display is nice if you're into that kind of thing.  We most certainly are.

We first came across them earlier this year when their home was featured on the apartmenttherapy site ... just nice all 'round!

Take a look if you have a few spare minutes - beautiful place in a nice setting.  Though I suspect they suffer the same problem we have where friends come to visit and often note that our house is just like our shop, but with a tv ...

more woodgrain ...

Meanwhile, we finally succumbed to some faux log ceramic mugs we came across at a local op-shop.  Not the first time we've seen them, but we have always managed to control our "It's fake wood, buy it!" urges up 'til now.

So, having crumbled, and now having 4 mis-matched (and some may say tacky) woodgrain coffee cups on the shelf it looks like yet another thing added to the list of "We collect those - keep an eye out ..."

A friend once told us that once you have more than 2 of something, it's the start of a collection ...