Designed by Alessandro Mendini for Alessi, the Agata Teapot is a twist on the classic English teapot.
It is made from stainless steel with polyamide handle. What is particularly novel about this design however is the accompanying terra cotta tea light burner, which allows you to burn a tea light beneath the pot to keep your tea warm. A simple yet genius idea.
It is available to buy from various online retailers but Go Electrical have it priced at £114.40 which is the cheapest I’ve seen it.
Next a strange piece of Icelandic design by Birgisson Hrafnkell Hrafnkell in the shape of what are being called a High Cup.
The name is pretty accurate description of the product, which is a vintage china tea cup, elevated being being attached to a wine glass stem. The result is rather odd, but definitely a talking point. They are available in a choice of either patterned, floral or plain white, although the exact designs will vary as they are second-hand cups.
Not cheap by any means at over £42.50 per cup, but I suppose they are multi-purpose as you could drink your tea or wine from them. Visit Made in Design to buy.
Following on from the return of Artic Roll and Opal Fruits, another 70s favourite is returning to its retro roots – Wagon Wheels.
For a limited time, Wagon Wheels will be available in their original 1970s gold packaging and in a long lost flavour – caramel. According to maker Burton's, the recipe for the 'smooth caramel' Wagon Wheel (unavailable for many years) was found by researchers hunting down old packaging designs. On the back of that, it was remade, found to taste 'so good' and has now gone back in production, selling for as long as that limited stock lasts on the supermarket shelves.
So if you want one, get down to your local retailer now – expect to pay £1.15 or less for a pack of six.
Harlands Organic Furnishings specialise in eco friendly fabric and upholstery, but they also sell some other interesting products. Browsing their website, I was particularly taken with these Recycled Glasses.
Available in either green or plum, both colours have an attractive smoky look., which probably has something to do with them being made from recycled glass, but looks good too. Choose from wine glasses or tumblers, priced £10 and £8 respectively.
Buy online at Harlands Organic Furnishings.
Not just your average coffee machine, the Jura J5 Signature coffee machine offers exclusivity and a finish to top all others.
If automated coffee machines were around in the art deco era, they would probably look like this, with the J5 offered with a Columbian walnut or northern birch veneer, finished by hand polishing 15 coats of high-gloss lacquer to a mirror finish.
And as a coffee machine, it offers up a Cappuccino, Latte, Macchiato or Ristretto at the touch of a button, throwing in a height-adjustable coffee spout, cup illumination, strength selection and a touch-sensitive screen. It's exclusively available from Harrods from June this year – we suspect for a considerable amount of cash.
Spinning windmills take me back to the seaside of my childhood. So I was pleased to see them recreated in miniature on these Windmill Straws.
The shiny foil windmills have transformed drinking straws into a fun retro novelty. They are sold in pack of 16, but as they just use ordinary straws, you can probably re-use the windmills on new straws.
They cost £2 per pack from Iggloo.
