Tag: illustration

Categories / Design and Interiors

1959 Chelsea tea towel design from the Museum of London

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Chelsea tea towel

A slice of bohemian London life in the fifties is captured in this Chelsea tea towel, produced for the shop at the Museum of London. 

It uses an illustration produced for Tatler magazine in 1959 by Mardie Madden and features a stylised map of the streets of Chelsea, which it called the 'liveliest area in town'. Produced just before the 1960s style explosion you associate with the King's Road and the area, the characters illustrated include artistic types, alongside more traditional figures such as the Chelsea guard. 

A nice slice of London life, this tea towel costs £6.50. 

Buy it online

Categories / Books, Design and Interiors, Kids

Alain Grée products at Saison

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Alain gree stickers

Following on from yesterday's Puffin book, here's more retro illustration for kids, this time with a French flavour, courtesy of Alain Grée at the Saison shop.

Alain Grée was the author and illustrator of over 300 children's books in France, mainly published during the 1960s and 70s. His work is now being widely reproduced across a wide range of stationery and gift items, from notebooks to posters to pocket mirrors.

The travel stickers pictured show an example of his distinctive style – in a colour palette of purple, pink and black he illustrates everything you'd need for a good holiday in France including cheese, wine and the Eiffel Tower!

The stickers cost €5 while the notebooks and posters cost €12 each.

See the range online

Categories / Design and Interiors

Sunny Days tea towel by Ben Javens at To Dry For

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Ben Javens

The latest collaboration at To Dry For is this charming Sunny Days tea towel, featuring a design by Ben Javens.

The design optimistically heralds the start of the summer, with a illustration showing that indeed the sun has got his hat on. The blue, yellow and brown colour scheme adds to the retro feel of the design. 

As with all the To Dry For products, it's a very reasonable way to snap up a piece of design. This tea towel costs £9.95.

Buy it online

Categories / Design and Interiors, Travel

Retro London tissue pack

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London tissues

Retro design can be found everywhere, including on the humble tissue. This London tissue pack is possibly too good to blow your nose on.

The tissues feature a design of a traditional red London bus in the style of Royston Cooper (also recently referenced in Takashi Furuya's Have a Nice Day Poster). See over the page for the individual tissue design, which features city types waiting at a bus stop, depicted in the same retro style. The illustrations are so charming, they surely deserve a better fate than being thrown away. 

A pack of twelve costs 95p. 

Buy them from the Dotcomgiftshop

Read more

Categories / Art and Photography, Kids

Peggy Wickham prints at Elphicks

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Peggybeach

Elphicks is currently selling a couple of original 1950s prints by children's illustrator Peggy Wickham. The design shown, 'On the Beach', perfectly captures a nostalgic summer holiday, while the other print, 'The Village', captures an idyllic English rural scene. They are also selling three further designs as reproduction Giclee prints. 

On the Beach costs £75 while the Giclee prints (available in the shop only) cost £20 each. 

Buy the original print from the Elphicks website or see the other designs on the Elphicks blog

Categories / Cars and Bikes, Design and Interiors, Kids

Go Go Retro wallpaper by Harlequin

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Go Go Retro wallpaper

Harlequin's Go Go Retro wallpaper not only has a brilliant name but also is a charming design, ideal for a kids room.

The paper features line drawing illustrations of retro vehicles such as a Vespa, Camper Van and a Beetle. Hopefully it should inspire some good alternatives to the traditional children's ambition of being a train driver. The simple design means it shouldn't look too overwhelming in a room as well. 

The paper costs £25 a roll. 

Buy it from John Lewis