Categories / Men's Fashion, Women's Fashion

Polaroid Best Under The Sun archive sunglasses collection

Sun1

Perhaps now known more for its cameras, Polaroid was once a prime mover in the sunglasses market, producing some iconic styles from the '60s onwards. Some of those are celebrated and reissued in the Polaroid Best Under The Sun archive collection, now available via the Design Museum.

Four styles are on offer, Memphis, Donna, Image (designed by Kenneth Grange) and Rebel. Memphis is the one above, worn by musicians and hipsters in the 1960s, reproduced in premium nickel silver and state of the art TR90 for the modern market. They retail for £69.

Also, check out over the page for the other styles, all taken from the 1970s and 1980s and priced between £69 and £85.

Find out more at the Design Museum Shop website

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Categories / Design and Interiors, Kids

Tattly: retro-inspired temporary tattoos

Tattly

Tattly is a new venture launched by the blogger Swissmiss offering temporary tattoos for design-minded kids and the young at heart. The range includes plenty of retro subject matter for offer – though not the traditional hearts or roses you might expect. 

She's worked with various different illustrators to produce the tattoos. Julia Rothman has supplied the digital watch design pictured, as well as a robot and a polaroid camera. Other designs include retro computer graphics and an old-fashioned microphone. 

$5 buys you a set of two of any design or you can buy all 15 designs for $35.

Buy them online

Categories / eBay watch

eBay watch: 1950s Knoll Harry Bertoia Diamond Chair

Diamond

If you want a new one, you'll be looking at paying out £841 at a reputable UK retailer. This Knoll Harry Bertoia Diamond Chair is currently much, much cheaper.

Obviously, this is a secondhand midcentury design, the original dating back no 1950. But according to the seller, this is an official Knoll Diamond Chair, which is the important bit.

Condition is described as 'good but not perfect' condition. with some wires at the front looking repaired and touched up (pictures on the main listing). There are also some age scratches and scruffs. So not as good as getting a new one, but at the present price of £6.29, an absolute bargain.

Find out more at the eBay website

Categories / Design and Interiors

Desk One from Another Country

Another country desk

Another Country's Desk One gives a contemporary design update to an old-fashioned style school desk.

While the essential components of a desk are there – a drawer, and an indentation in its top to hold your pens and pencils – this is probably far higher quality of anything you ever sat at while in school. It's made in the UK, produced in Dorset to be specific, from solid oak/ash. It's been adapted for twenty-first century demands too, with an option of a cable tidy to accommodate computers and the like. Pick from the natural version pictured, or a black finish. 

The desk costs £895.

See it online

Categories / Art and Photography, Food and Drink

Kitchen illustration postcards by Amy Walters

Amy waters
Kitchens often seems to inspire retro treatment and that's certainly the case with these kitchen illustration postcards by Amy Walters.

The London-based designer has produced a charming design, showing everything from whisks to spatulas. The set includes four different colourways, each with a 50s flavour, that have been printed onto recycled card for sending or saving as you see fit. 

The set of four cards costs $5. 

Buy them from her Etsy store

Categories / Architecture, Property

For sale: 1960s Edward Schoolheifer-designed property on Manygate Lane, Shepperton, Middlesex

School1

Maybe land wasn't at such a premium 50 or so years back. Or perhaps house builders had different priorities. Whatever it was, this Edward Schoolheifer-designed house on the Manygate Lane Estate, Shepperton, Middlesex is very different to something found on a modern-day housing estate.

Schoolheifer designed this house back in 1964 for the Lyon group, one of a group of houses on the same estate that are now classed as a conservation area, all benefitting from a landscaped communal square away from the road, as well as front and back gardens. You wouldn't get a communal area like that in 2011, that's for sure.

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