MUST HAVE: Top salvo buy – London Underground luggage racks
February 2, 2012
If you grew up in London and were a regular commuter on the Metropolitan Line, you may well remember their high back seats and capacious 1960’s luggage racks with umbrella hooks. When the trains were decommissioned last year the clever folk over at The London Transport Museum decided to rescue the racks, scrub them up and are offering a limited number in three different sizes. Available from March, you can own a little piece of London history in your own home…
What a novel shelving solution! Made from aluminium they are super lightweight but sturdy. Perfect if you need a little extra storage in the hallway or kitchen. Other memorabilia includes a reproduction of the original 1960’s poster that introduced the newly modernised line 50 years ago…
and not sure I’d want to be reminded of the tube this much in my own home, but made to order cushions and cubes are also available in a unique moquette (woven in Yorkshire) based on the Metropolitan line’s distinctive purple and navy, geometric design. – Alice
For years now, I have hankered after the Bluebell Sofa from sofa.com and now they’ve only gone and bloomin’ collaborated with the talented textile designers at St Jude’s Fabrics – offering even more tantilizing designs to their range.
The project is the first in a new initiative called ‘Design Lab’ which sofa.com launched as a way of supporting and promoting British design. Together they have chosen three different prints in three colourways by well known artists and printers. Mark Hearld is known for his nature inspired lithographic prints and Angie Lewin is the co-founder of St Jude’s Fabrics and creator of the lovely skeletal plantform designs:
Look how well they translate onto upholstery! Available on six different models from sofa.com, these are limited edition pieces and only available from their showroom so if you like what you see, don’t dilly dally! Great chair but there’s room for improvement with the shelving:
and the wingback chair (below) showcases Angie Lewin‘s fabulous hedgerow design. I love it’s mid-century style, blending in nicely with the sludgy green paint colour and retro enamel lighting…
It’s all VERY lovely. So VERY comfy and perhaps far too pretty to sit on. – Alice
Squint + London Transport Museum = SOFA JOY
September 2, 2011
Ah, moquette. The hard-wearing, patterned, furry fabric that the London Underground train seats are upholstered in. (I once went to a great lecture about the history of moquette and the various designs, but there were some rather gruesome details about the bed bug problem on various tube lines and I haven’t sat down since without a quick inspection first…) The London Transport Museum design team has already covered various objects with this practical retro stuff – pouffes, headboards, cushions, even handbags – and now, they’ve joined forces with those clever upholsterers at Shoreditch studio Squint to create a collection of limited-edition moquette patchwork sofas, which will be unveiled during the London Design Festival at Tent London:
If you visit Tent, you could win a stylish moquette armchair…and the rest of the collection will be available from the London Transport Museum’s online shop from the end of September and their bricks-and-mortar Covent Garden museum shop. – Ellie
Nathan & MissPrint team up
February 23, 2011
Oh, I do like a retro chair with sexy legs and I do like a 1950s-inspired dandelion print with a slightly-Scandi feel – especially when it’s in a fetching shade of mellow yellow. So, dear reader, I was THRILLED to hear that Nathan Furniture has teamed up with one of my East London favourites, MissPrint, to produce some very exciting upholstered treats such as this stunning Monty chair in Dandelion Mobile. Check it:
In the words of Veruca Salt, I want it now! But it’s £595, so I might just have to print out a picture and staple-gun it to my trusty Ektorp Jennylund. There’s plenty more retro deliciousness to be had at Nathan, so do have a peep if you’re that way inclined. – Ellie
