Some of My Favourites from Vintage, Art and Design

Feeling more inspired than I have for a while, right now! Which is good. Probably because I’m looking for a holiday apartment to rent on the South coast of England, anyone know of a good one? It’s been a hard choice this year as there are many places I would like to visit but because I live in Denmark for now and am missing my home country more than ever, my choice is to be there. We’ll probably do a Brighton trip with a bit of surrounding areas thrown in as Brighton is one of my favourite cities in Europe and certainly the best in the UK in my mind.

It’s been a tough one though, with many of you taunting me with your recent pics of Cornwall and the lake district! That’s what I love about the UK, it’s very diverse, you can have lakes and mountains one minute, and a few hours later palm trees and white sand beaches!

Casper James
This post I’d like to share some of my favourite art, design and all things vintage.Kicking off with Brighton of course!! Those of you familiar with it will know that in the ‘North Laines’ area [shoppers paradise] there is an antique emporium, which is like a load of vintage and retro stalls under one roof. In there is a guy with great style called Casper James.

My lovely interior designer friend Ben, went along to meet him and photograph the stall for me, thanks Benji!

Look at the great range of stuff he sells! He customizes some of the pieces too, to give them a great new look. Casper, if you’re reading this, thank you and I’ll be visiting and no doubt purchasing when I’m in Brighton.

See Caspers flickr site here which also features some of his fantastic colourful artwork, very retro in style.

Zoe Rubens
Another favourite is Sculptor Zoe Rubens, who exhibited at our Gallery a couple of years ago. Zoe’s work is incredible, I think. She uses recycled pieces of metal to create the most gorgeous sculptures using techniques such as welding and soldering.

She exhibits regularly at a couple of London galleries as well as throughout the UK and can also work to commission.

Many pieces incorporate ceramic details, also made by Zoe and some are narrative based, using references to past stories or historical/ mythical beings.

She has a flikr site and a web site where you can view more of her work and see that she is also an accomplished print maker. Look at these lovely paper works. ‘I’m feeling really humble now Zoe, you are so talented’!

Nanna Ask
Last but not least, one of my favourite Artists, Nanna Ask from Denmark. I have this painting of hers, which we purchased the last time she exhibited here, a few years on, I still love its child like simplicity and humorous depiction. Its called ‘Repair Me’ directly translated, but I guess ‘make me better’?

She has a website, where you can read all about her and see many more paintings including an archive section where everything, including sold works are listed.

Denmark has a history of naïve painters and I think Nanna is one of the best contemporary naïve painters here in DK. The titles of her works touch a chord in you as they have a familiarity for all of us, especially those with children.

I like how she incorporates vintage wallpapers into her paintings and how she creates textures using acrylic, oil bars, crayons and pens.

Well, that’s all for now, hope you’re feeling inspired, I’ll be back next week to show you some pictures from the exhibition. Have a great and sunny week!

Redesigned and reinvented

The following are lamps I’ve made using previously loved materials. The first was a satin peach coloured Danish lamp from the 40s or 50s. I stripped it completely down and reinvented it.

The see through panels look a bit like net but they are in fact ‘scrim”, a tough material used to clean printmaking plates. I like the contrast between the vintage fabrics and the illustrations and photographic additions, think I might develop this idea further in other works.

I have a small collection of previously loved toys which I’ve rescued over the years, some of which I’m using now in smaller works. The next two lamps have been developed from this collection. The shades are completely handstiched to the point of repetitive strain injury on my thumb! but entirely worth it!

I love the yellow pony, bought on a trip to my favourite town Brighton. I’m thinking of adding a knitted yellow fringe to this one, must scour some charity shops for second hand wool.

The shade for both lamps was made from an old Canadian quilt, the colours are just beautiful and the patterns have a wonderful naivety about them.

These lantern lights used to hang in my sons room when he was little! He’s now 23!

I’ve customised and adapted them using ephemera, French sugar papers, and serviettes. The lights are not as bright now but very atmospheric, which I like. They really took ages to do!

I’ll be continuing this week with my photography of the dolls house and will post later this week. Until then, please take a look at the blog, Hens Teeth, discovered recently with the realisation that it is written by and old friend of mine. http://www.hensteethart.blogspot.com/

She makes the most beautiful things from old scraps of vintage everything and stitches them with skill and love. She also has a link to her Etsy shop for all purchases.