I went out on a job last week. A proper get up early to be on set, fill the cab with props sort of job. It was styling two room sets for a brand (more of which I can tell you about next week) but one of the key elements of the rooms were the…
My Grandmother had one, and so, possibly, did yours. The Roberts transistor radio, with its leather case, was the classic radio of the Sixties. It was designed by Leslie Bidmead, who went into a business partnership with Harry Roberts in 1932. The RT1 was, according to company lore, based on the shape of Mrs Bidmead’s…
This chair was inspired by a picture in a travel guide to Africa and has been a design classic since it first appeared in 1933. Kaare Klint was inspired by a British Officer’s chair he had seen in a travel guide for Africa. Apparently, he particularly liked the picture in which the author of the…
Kippis means Cheers in Finnish and what better way to greet a cold winter day than with a really good mug. Perfect for morning coffee, afternoon tea or anytime hot chocolate, I rather like the fact that it’s a mug with a picture of a wine glass. I am also, as you may have realised…
It was, in the end, perhaps the Lamp wot won it. Following the revelation that Samantha Cameron had bought a fake Arco for her new kitchen at No 10, Michelle Ogundehin, the editor of Elle Decoration, was outraged. Writing on her blog, Ogundehin called Cameron “cheap, hypocritical and fake” adding: “That’s all we need, the endorsement…
Wallace and Gromit have a SMUG fridge in their kitchen. There’s also one in EastEnders, a show not usually noted for interior design. But despite the gentle ribbing, the Smeg fridge is still an object of desire for many and is, without a doubt, a modern design classic. So widely recognised is it that it…
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED 9/04/12 To celebrate the two month anniversary of Mad About The House, those very kind people at LLUSTRE.com have donated a rather fabulous Stelton Cafetiere to be given to one lucky winner to be chosen at random. You have until Monday to enter. How to get your hands on this Design…
Hands up if you drank from these at primary school? Thought so. These French glasses are a design classic found in French bistros and schools the world over. Rumour has it there is even a picture of Osama bin Laden holding a Duralex glass. The school version is called the Gigogne – slightly rounded and…
If you can tell a design classic by how often it is copied, then the Cafe Daum hatstand surely has the credentials. From its illustrious beginnings in 19th century Viennese cafe society, versions of it can now be found on Amazon for about 20 quid, which is actually rather sad. It is perhaps the…
It might look like a fairly standard kitchen chair but the Ercol Butterfly was groundbreaking when it first launched. What’s more, the clean, simple lines of postwar British design are still as fashionable today as they were 50 years ago. The chair’s designer, Lucian Randolph Ercolani, arrived in London from his native Florence in 1894.…