CULT REISSUE: byGraziela
“I REMEMBER THE 1980s’ prints most clearly. My mum did an ’80s black and white floral and stripe collection - and I remember me and a friend, aged about 12, going out into our quite suburban town wearing these matching floral outfits - including these weird little leggings. It was really embarrassing. “
So says 32-year-old Nina Nägel, daughter of renowned German textile designer Graziela Preiser who grew up so immersed in her mother’s bright, happy, retro graphic ’70s and ’80s prints on bedding, wallpaper, clothing and crockery that to her they were always just a part of the landscape. That was until Nina, a graphic designer based in London, had her son, Jakob, now 1.
“It was then I think that I really realised how they were more than just a really substantial part of my life. Especially when I dug some of the old ’70s pieces out of my mum’s attic and all my friends starting asking where they could get them. ”
Graziela Preiser’s famed prints were never commercially available. Nina explains how her mother used to work for a magazine (”the equivalent of Red magazine today”) that offered the pieces as mail-order specials to its readers. The magazine made her mother famous, and such was the cult that resulted in her native Germany that Nina gets fans sending her emails detailing the bedlinen they had when they were little. “But then even I used to have sleepovers and all my friends would turn up wearing her pyjamas. Everyone was matching!”
For Nina, this was all impetus for relaunching the brand - a move she started with her One, Two, Three bedlinen range earlier this year (see the print, top picture) - which has since grown to include wall organisers, pyjamas, posters made from original 1970s wallpaper cuttings (see picture, bottom) and a brand new collaboration of graphic mugs and plates with UK design maestro Thorsten van Elten (above). Reissued wallpapers and new posters are just some of the items coming soon, as soon as Nina can decide which of her mother’s amazingly modern-looking patterns to reissue next. Read the rest of this article
Posted 15 June 2009 in Decor
TREND: retro robots
SERIOUSLY, when my mother was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, she and countless others genuinely believed they’d be being served by robots around now - such was the hype surrounding post-war robotics technology.
And yet, despite constant and impressive developments, we seem further and further away from living the techno-servant dream. At the same time, we seem loathe to let go of the vintage robot aesthetic of half a century ago - even though the look has been very definitely superseded by today’s quest for near-human robots.
For Clifford Richards, who came to the fore of graphic design in the 1960s, the appeal of such robot aesthetics has never dated. “My robot designs are inspired by Japanese clockwork tin toys of the 50s and 60s. I have a small collection of them plus some more recent examples in plastic. They have an endearingly clumsy human quality that I find quite irresistible - and they’re great fun to do!” Richards’ work on a robotic tip includes mugs for Big Tomato Company, signature graphic identity for the Museum of Childhood in London and a new collection of robot metal clocks, pictured left, coming soon from The Original Metal Box Co. As far as possible he’s kept the clocks industrial and fairly ‘raw’ looking (so be warned, they’re not to play with) to mimic the age and patina of his tin toy collection. Read the rest of this article
Posted 19 May 2009 in Decor
LITTLEBIG LOVES… ferm LIVING Kids
THERE’S NO GREATER recommendation for a new design company than when the owners use the designs themselves. Trine Andersen, 30, the Danish mum and graphic designer behind ferm LIVING, the graphic design company founded in 2005, added a children’s range of wallpapers and more to her collection of “modern with a retro touch, graphic, and Scandinavian” feel products (papers, wall stickers, pillows, tea towels and bedding) back in 2007. “I realized there was so much cute fashion for kids, a range of cute interior products was called for,” she says, of the growing collection that includes Butterflies, pictured left.
In the meantime, however, Trine gave birth to her first son, and has decorated his room at her 1960s-build leafy home in Aarhus, Denmark with her Rush Hour traffic-themed wallpaper. “Having him is making it much easier to get inspiration for and to understand the children’s universe,” she says. Luckily you can now share in the inspiration in the UK at 95%Danish, as the online store stocks ferm LIVING’S entire range, both for kids and adults.
*In the US, buy at www.fermlivingshop.us **For international stockists, see www.ferm-living.com
Posted 7 January 2009 in Decor
TOP SIX: Children’s Cushions
KAREN HILTON’S CUSHIONS (left and below right) aren’t meant for kids. “I’m sure they would rather be playing than thinking about home furnishings!” says she, making a very good point. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t perfect for children’s rooms. Their combination of quirky and humorous (plus quintessentially English - all those super bright hues and British motifs are inspired by pop art and punk), with simple cut out shapes and brilliant colours, means they will bring any rather dull child’s room to life.
Younger ones may or may not get the slightly subversive air of the Queen’s profile or the Union Jack in anti-establishment colours (”I hate red and royal blue together, which is why I changed its colours,” explains Karen, who originally studied model making at Bournemouth. “When I did I realised I liked the flag design as a pattern on its own merit.”), but they’re likely to appreciate the joie de vivre of Karen’s handmade cotton and felt designs. Pictured cost from US$68 at Karen’s Etsy store.
TEN QUESTIONS, TEN ANSWERS: Absolute Zero Degrees on Mini Moderns
Together Mark Hampshire and Keith Stephenson of Absolute Zero Degrees, a graphic design outfit based in south London, produce Mini Moderns, a homesware label for kids with more than a little adult appeal too.
They have ridden the wave of the new market in children’s interior design, and have become, within 4 years of their launch, one of the world’s most inspiring design companies for children.
Mark, 41, (shown right in the picture on the left) from West Yorkshire, holds a degree in English literature and loves New York, Negronis and Radiohead. He dislikes red sports cars. Keith, 42, from North Yorkshire, has a degree in graphics, used to work with Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway at Red or Dead, and loves Autumn, gigs, The Festival of Britain, and the Amalfi Coast (ED: but then who doesn’t?). He hates prejudice, heights and laziness. Here they talk design, eco issues, and being online uncles to their growing legion of fans….
LittleBig: Most people turn to design for children when they have kids themselves, and become frustrated or disappointed at what is on the market. You don’t have that justification so what’s your reasoning for Mini Moderns?
Posted 25 October 2008 in Decor, Designer Profiles
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