Tormod Sjaamo painting

I finally got my painting up on the wall where I wanted it before photographing it and showing it to you. I found this in my local charity shop a couple of weeks ago and was instantly drawn to it. The artist’s name is Tormod Sjaamo and around 1950-60s he used to teach at Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole in Oslo (similar to the Royal College of Art in Britain). He also lived in Nesodden which is my area.

Although it's signed '82, I think the style of painting is very mid-century. I love the colours and the composition and the fact that people interpret it differently. What do you see?

(Click on the images for a larger version.)

Stavangerflint Fox

How's this for a great vintage kiddie's plate? I had never seen this previous to finding it on an online auction site. I was very happy to have the winning bid :-) It is another Turi-design and the decor is called 'Fox'.

Little dog "Lost"

Every now and then when I'm thrift shopping for ceramics, porcelain and glass etc. I stumble across a picture that I just can't resist. This was one of those. Call it kitschy, I don't care. The expression on this little puppy triggered my rescue gene.

The picture looks like an etching, it's got an English title, "Lost", but I can't make out the signature (click on image for larger version). My guess is that it's from the first half of the 1900's, but I'm no art expert. If you are, or if you're able to interpret the signature, please leave a comment. If you're not an art expert you're welcome to leave a comment anyway :-)

I also found a painting on the same shopping trip. Stay tuned.

Blue again

While I'm preparing something else for the blog, here's a little blue bit that I picked up thinking I could always list it in my Etsy shop. Meanwhile, I like it enough to hold onto it... I don't know the make as it's unsigned but I know I've seen it before. Most likely it's by a Scandinavian ceramicist. The colour and finish reminds me of Söholm, but is it? Again I trust one of you readers might be able to help me with the name.

Update (or: It's a small world): Gro sent me a comment to this post today – it turns out this vase used to be hers... She had donated it to our local charity shop where I found it. (It's from Greece, so not Scandinavian at all, as it turns out). My reply comment to Gro is this: next time you want to get rid of something this nice, don't bother with the detour - you can just give it to me directly :-)

Vintage children’s book III: La Fontaine Fabeln

The last book in this blog post series is a vintage German children's book. It's got fantastic colourful illustrations by Gerhard Oberländer and was published in 1964.

Bottled mice, anyone?

Vintage children’s book I: Singeling for rare ting

Blogspot had big problems this week. As a result, the original version of this post (and comments) disappeared and was never restored. I'll try to repeat myself as best I remember..

This Norwegian children's book was published in 1961. The illustrator's name is Unni-Lise Jonsmoen. (She's the wife of the author Ola Jonsmoen.)

The story is about Enok who's 6 and home from school one day due to a cold. He's bored and his mum suggests he do some drawing, which he does. He then makes up some fantastic stories based on the drawings.

The sign on the tram reads 'Enok’s town'.

Vintage children’s book II: Min første bok

Picture books naturally don't have much text, but this one doesn't even have the year of publishing. Judging from the photos I'm guessing it's from the 1950s. The title of the book translates to "My first book" and the subtitle reads "A picture book in colours". And what colours!

Note how the banana is posed on some soft furnishing. I find that amusing for some reason.

There's more of course, but this will have to do for now.

Have a nice weekend! I'm off to another fleamarket tomorrow and hope to have something to show for it here later.

Blog bother

I was a little alarmed to find that my Vintage children's book post from yesterday suddenly seemed to have vanished. All day today I've been trying to blog, only to find out blogger was doing maintance work. Sigh. I hope they manage to restore all missing posts as promised. Meanwhile, I'll continue with part two of the children's books.

Big apple by Arabia

This is my latest vintage treasure. It's a huge serving platter and it's got pride of place on the dining table. Designed by Gunvor Olin Gronquist.

Beautiful blues recently thifted

Stavangerflint plate. Can anyone help me with the name of the pattern?

Christmas platter from Porsgrund. Incidentially from the same year that I celebrated my very first Christmas... Good vintage, in other words :-) I don't know who did the illustration, but as far as Christmas platters go I think this is one of the best I've seen.

This little vase/bottle has a stamp on the underside, but I'm not familiar with it. (This goes for a few items in my collection. Maybe I'll do a post on them later and ask for your assistance in interpreting them.)
Update: The vase is called Zyklon, designed by Cari Zalloni for German company Steuler. Thanks to Christin and Skynda Fynda blog for the info.

This ashtray is by Maria Philipi for Söholm, Denmark.

An Italian dish, possibly Bitossi. Very 'Rimini Blue' anyway.

Yesterday’s catch, part III

The curves and light in this green Hadeland pitcher photographed so well it became a whole little series on its own :-)

When I grew up we had a bigger version of this pitcher in a smoked/grey colour. I've always liked its shape and the way it holds ice cubes. I think this was a popular design from Hadeland back in its days (probably the 1960s).

Yesterday’s catch, part II

Iittala's 'Ultima Thule' decanter designed by Finish designer Tapio Wirkkala.

I've started collecting drinking glasses in this series (still in production), so finding this for nkr 40,- was a thrill.

Yesterday’s catch, part I

We had quite a successful day thrift-shopping yesterday, my good friend Maggie and I. Pictured above is my main lot. All the items with yellow are from Figgjo. My guess is that they date back to the late 50's. The lovely little cookie tray in front is called 'Smørbukk' and is by Inger Waage for Stavangerflint. It was also produced in yellow, of which I have a dinner plate from before:

Borrowed colours

From Poppytalk.

From My Vintage Vogue.

From the Inger Waage web site.

Post-Easter egg post

I hope you all had a great Easter. Mine was nice and lazy, enjoying the spring sunshine. I also managed to find some vintage treats :-)

Although the high season for eggs might officially be over for this year, the egg cups remain. Here is a vintage trio from Stavangerflint. The decor on the bottom one is called 'Honey' and the top one is 'Sera', both by Inger Waage. If you know the name for the middle one, please be a good egg and let me know. (Soft pun intended.)

Olivetti poster

How cool is this poster? I want one to go with my typewriter :-)

Image borrowed from flickr here.

Vintage Olivetti typewriter

(Click on images to enlarge)

Stavangerflint children's dishes

I had dishes with these motifs as a kid. They got lost over the years but I was lucky and found a complete set (plate, cup and bowl) last year at a fleamarket. I'm pretty sure the illustrations are by Inger Waage, and they are just beautiful. And so fitting for spring.