Sunday, June 02, 2013

A few new ones

There hasn't been much time for thrifting lately, May is by far the busiest month of the year, both at home and at work. I have managed just a few small ones that I thought I'd share.
A little while ago, I found this beige and brown vase by Bay West Germany. Right after, I found this red one with the exact same shape at a local flea market.



 


Did you know Stavangerflint didn't just make souvenir cups and plates, there were even souvenir skillets? I didn't, until I got the latest addition to my Stavanger souvenir collection when my mom and dad visited for constitution day. And yes, I now have three and hereby declare it a collection:-)

Most of these were designed by Anne Lofthus, I guess that's also the case with the skillet. The motifs are from around town. On the handle is a statue of a boy feeding some ducks, which stands outside my old high school, which again, is next to the cathedral where I got married, showed to the right. This shows the gothic facade facing east, while on the plate I've shown in a previous post, the roman facade to the west is depicted.
In the bottom are the famous ducks that made the police stop the traffic to help them travel safely from the harbour to the city pond. The story made the front page of several newspapers, I think it was in the fifties or sixties.

 





Mom and dad also gave me this lovely Figgjo Bekkeblom (in latin: Caltha palustris) sugarbowl, designed in 79 by Rolf Frøyland,  they had found in an op shop. Sadly, the lid is missing, but I'll be on the lookout for one. I don't usually go for flower patterns, but this one is too beautiful to resist. What I especially like is the shapes of the stems, the lines have an art nouveau feel, I wonder if that was intentional? I've seen it very clearly on the plates in that pattern, where the stems frame the plate in a beautiful way. I also love that the flower is a very "humble" one, they're often the most lovely! It's found locally and has caught the eye of the artist. 

That same flower also inspired another artist to make a series for Egersund fayence some years earlier. Kitty Kielland (female landscape painter from Stavanger, sister of famous Norwegian author Alexander Kielland) designed their Bekkeblom pattern in 1901. 


 

The final pieces today are two Kosta Boda snowball candle holders, designed by Ann Wärff in 1973. They're not at all hard to find in thrift stores over here, and they're still in production, just like the finnish classics featured in my two previous posts. The votives sit deep into the center of the snowball and lets the textured glass break the light in all directions making the whole thing glow from inside. It's a very beautiful sight on a dark scandinavian fall or winter night...



I'm feeling rather good about myself, having also lightly sanded and oiled all the surfaces of my new teak kitchen this weekend. The new wood surfaces recieved one coat of oil before assembly, and the treatment should be repeated a few times. i was a bit worried that the oil would streak and go on unevenly, but the oil I got from the manufacturer was very lightweight and fluid, and a joy to work with. The surfaces look amazing now, the extra coat of oil did a lot of good. That's all for now, I wish you a great week:-)


4 comments:

  1. I love your Bay siblings. I don't know if you noticed or not, but the same thing happened to me with Scheurich vases...same shape, different colors. I find your Stavanger collection so delightful, and I love Kosta Boda. I'm a big fan of Bertil Vallien. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you find your missing lid. And again I want to tell you how stunningly beautiful I think your kitchen cabinets are. They're perfection.

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    1. Thank you so much Dana! Yes, I remember, and it's so fun to see how the character of the vases change with every new combination of shape and pattern.
      I hadn't planned on collecting souvenir plates until the Stavanger ones started turning up, but I couldn't resist the motifs from my home town:-)
      I'm so happy that you like my kitchen cabinets, Dana, I really liked yours too!! And the rest of your gorgeous nest:-) Have a great week!

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  2. Two more handsome Germans Tove, siblings as Dana calls them. Made from the same mould, but still with their individual quirks just like real brothers and sisters.
    I love your personal connections and the little stories attached to the Stavanger pieces.

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    1. I love how you both call them siblings:-) It's a great comparison of how the same mould can create such different characters. That's the beauty of pottery, it takes both a shape and some glaze!
      I'm so glad you like my Stavanger pieces and their stories:-) Thanks, Kylie!

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