20th Century Design

For many years now it's been popular to stay in hotels that boast rooms full of antiques – I even owned one at one point! It's easy to see the attraction of staying in rooms full of beautiful things, four-poster beds and all the accoutrements of those halcyon days. However, I've just been told of a new phenomenon. A trailer park in Arizona houses a collection of 1950s vintage trailers that are available to stay in. There's a 1949 Airstream, one of those beautiful sleek silver machines, there's a 33 foot Royal Mansion built in 1951 with leopard carpet, martini glasses, Diner-style breakfast booth and phonograph with a collection of 78rpm records, or a 1947 Tiki Bus Polynesian Palace, complete with hand-carved outrigger bar and your own Tiki God. 

They play 1950s music and show old movies on the TVs and help visitors recreate holidays when the world was a simpler place. You can find out more HERE

In my Collectors' corner column this time I have looked at the the rise of vintage posters. You can read the whole thing HERE

I cannot find my article in the online Daily Telegraph and I don't have a copy of the paper so I cannot  tell you if it's even in there! In the meantime here's an interesting story from yesterday's Daily Telegraph. It's concerns a 115 year old motorbike that is expected to raise £60,000 when it's auctioned by Bonhams. You can read more HERE

This week things have burst back into life in publishing and it has been really busy. In all my rushing around I forgot to post about my appearance on Woman's Hour on Wednesday. Thinking it had gone by I did not mention it yesterday, but I've been reminded that on the BBC's web site you can listen again. So click HERE.

The piece was all about retro furniture and when do things become collectable. We talked a lot about the 1960s and 70s and how often things skipped generations. I grew up with 60s style so it does not excite me as much as earlier periods. However, G-plan and Stag furniture, Czech glass and Portmeirion are just some of the very collectable names from this period. Also on the programme was Christine Lalumia, the director of london's Geffrye Museum who have a 60s room. One conclusion of it all was that the 60s and 70s were definitely all about urban style and not country chic!

“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris

William Morris pioneered the Arts and Crafts movement, which originated in the last decades of the 19^th Century. Along with John Ruskin he played a key role in a return to well designed functional and decorative objects in humble indigenous materials. Morris and Ruskin were at the birth of 20^th Century design and their influence, along with many others, can be traced throughout design in the last century.

In my new book, which I am so pleased with, you can find out much more about the great designers, their designs and the changes that flowed through everything from furniture to pottery, glassware to textiles and the other greats of design from the last 100 or so years.  My 20^th Century Design book is subtitled ‘the definitive illustrated sourcebook’ and I think it really does live up to its billing,