This little doll has been made by the Ndebele people of frica. The Ndebele are renowned for their amazing art work - from the colourful way they paint their buildings to intricate beadweaving. This doll has been made for the tourist market but is based on a traditional Ndeble design. I have long admired their use of vibrant colours and bold patterns and designs so I was pleased to be able to bring this little doll home. My bestest find came out of the bric-a-brac section this week .
I love these egg cups. They are made by Arabia - a Finnish company that have been creating ceramics for over 130 years. The Finns are often at the top of the list when it comes to design excellence and this company is no exception. A liitle research into the company revealed that it was quite progressive - employing artists and designers to constantly improve the range. They expanded a great deal too and in 1895 the factory employed around 300 workers - half of them being women. They won a gold medal at the Paris World Fair in 1900 ( a very big deal at the time) and remain a highly regarded design oriented brand. Their web site has a great page showing all the factory stamps used over time so you can readily identify when your pieces were made. My little eggcups were made between 1964 and 1972. Pretty sure the pattern gives that away anyway but it was great to be able to narrow it down. Do you remember reading books about The Moomins when you were a kid?
"Moomintroll’s mother and father always welcomed all their friends in the same quiet way, just adding another bed and putting another leaf in the dining-room table. And so Moominhouse was rather full — a place where everyone did what they liked and seldom worried about to-morrow. Very often unexpected and disturbing things used to happen, but nobody ever had time to be bored, and that is always a good thing."
These stories - written by Tove Jansson - are all about these lovely, gentle, fun-loving trolls - not the scary kind, they are round and squishy - like this ...
and they say things like this ...
"I think I'm beginning to understand now," said Moomintroll slowly. "You aren't a collector any longer, are you? Now you are just an owner. That's nowhere near as much fun." "No," said the Hemulen thoroughly dejected. "It is most decidedly nowhere near as much fun."
and this ...
"What is it?" said Moomintroll. Discoveries were his very favourite thing (after mysterious paths, swimming and secrets, that is).
Well, Arabia are responsible for creating Moomin ceramics! They are too gorgeous ...
Do you remember the wooden tray I showed you last week? Well it has now been cut up ready to work with and i thought I would share a peek at what it will eventually become a part of. This is a prototype of some brooch designs I am working on for a show in December.
The tray has becpme the back of the brooch and I have used reclaimed pewter for the front. The theme of the show is "Woodland Whimsy" so I expect there will be a few different little critters involved!
I hope you had a fun week fishing around in your favourite op shops. And found some treasures! You can share them with us by clicking on the link below. I would love that!
Happy Thrifting!
1 comment:
You always find such wonderful treasure, I really must get out more!
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