Archives – Knowledge

Balfron sponsors Midcentury East

We are proud to welcome superstar developers Londonewcastle to this October’s Midcentury East. Want to learn more about the restoration works at Ernö Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower, due to complete early next year while shopping for the best in midcentury design for your home? The team will be hosting a Balfron stand in order to share…

Need for Green

Green has been making a splash for a while now in interiors as seen in the green glass bottles mixed with purple on the shelves and green Kvadrat-covered Jacobsen chairs in founding partner Lucy’s kitchen.    But when Pantone named their colour of 2017 ‘Greenery’ we knew we had the stamp of approval. When everything else…

Marden Hill

Joining The Modern Marketplace this month is DANAD Design. This company founded by two members of the Marden Hill house collective ignited the Pop Art movement in Britain and created works that Liberty, Heals and Harrods could not get enough of in the Sixties, Unknown print left at Marden Hill between 1958-62 Originally the lovechild of Barry Daniels (DAN) and Tom Adams (AD), two friends…

Letter from Robin Day

‘An early design showing a clearly articulated structure. The slim steel rod frame cradles a shaped upholstered unit and timber arms which can also serve as shelves for glasses etc’ (Robin Day,2007) Back in 1951 Gerd Hay-Edie received a letter from the highly acclaimed designer, Robin Day. In it he said, “Of all the rugs which…

The Chieftain

Have you ever wondered how to sit in a ‘Chieftain chair’? Well now you know.  Above is an archive pic of Finn Juhl showing us how to sit in his most lauded piece for maximum comfort. Some say the Danish master saw life as a cocktail party, others that he followed the vagaries of fashion.…

Secret Cinema

You could have been living in London for more than twenty years. You might be in spitting distance from the place and still not know about one of London’s best kept secrets ‘The Cinema Museum‘. A couple of weeks ago I had the rare privilege of being invited to the viewing of a film in…

Print Parade

Love Midcentury and Modern? There’s a riot of pattern on the radar for 2014, right across the board, from fine art to fashion, textiles to furniture. The work of Esther Cox (main pic), Louis Reith, and Marcus Oakley nods respectfully at mid 20thC art but with a decidedly 21stC palette and a whole lot of…

Mile High Poster Club

At Midcentury Modern there is one illustrator’s work people come back to again and again. It is so hard to keep your eyes off it. The images not only emote, big time, they proved, early on, how commercial art could succeed without words to draw people in. Back in the 1950’s TWA hit advertising gold…

A Modern Day Bed with Midcentury Pedigree

This month in The Modern Marketplace we are proud to announce an exciting collaboration between the SHEILA BOWNAS archive and furniture brand PARLOUR.  THE EDWIN SOFA is  the product of Parlour’s collaboration with Chelsea of Sheila Bownas, a beautiful piece inspired by the versatile daybeds of the 1950s. Rich solid walnut pairs beautifully with a range of printed linens from the…

Architects Go Teeny Tiny for Charity

Ever had that dream where one of the world’s top architects designed your house? Well now you can own one, albeit a diminiutive one, designed with disabled children in mind. You just need to put in the top bid after a project led by the charity KIDS  asked twenty of the world’s leading architects to…