Nu har jeg jo altid været vild med hard core innovation og nye produkter som gør tilværelsen nemmere. Det er utroligt at jeg skal helt tilbage til 70erne for at finde en opfindelse, som for alvor sparker benene væk under mig. Holmegaard tog et innovativt kvantespring og introducerede “Gildeglasset”. Ja det var en tid hvor provinsen bugnede af gildesale i kældre og der blev hold gilder og sunget “sik’ en fest vi har haft nu i nat. Åh, ja Åh, ja Åh.” Og gildeglasset var en uundværlig del af villavejs gildet.

Midt i min oprydning i køkkenet faldt jeg over sådan et vidunder i en gammel kasse. En gave min mand fik som barn af sine forældre (om de mente han bare skulle gå igang med at drikke sig i hegnet, eller om den skulle fyldes med klar cola fra Rørkjær melder historien ikke noget om). Gildeglasset, som Holmegaard anbefaler som gaveidé, kom fint indpakket i et paprør som billedet viser.

Holmegaard løser et klassisk dilemma. Hvad skal man gøre af glasset når man er til reception eller til fest og gerne vil danse, ryge eller give hånd. “Med Holmegaards nye Gildeglas behøver de aldrig sige nej til en lille en” står der festligt på etiketten. “Mundblæst og håndforarbejdet og så er det skægt” skriver de videre. Og billedet hvor ABBA kloner danser med Gildeglasset hængende i lædersnor om halset bevidner at her er der i sandhed tale om skæg og ballade.

Og Holmegaard er ambitiøse. De går direkte efter et internationalt marked med en engelsk tekst og en beskrivelse af The Neck Glass. Den kunne desværre ikke være på billedet. Men ved Gud den var sælgende!

December started with a cold snap… and January began in the same way.

Lots of snow, frost & ice about again.

Here a barge has to break through icy water in the Rochdale Canal.

We often come across these old baths while wandering around the local fields. How about this for al fresco living? It was about -3ºC on the day we saw these – tempted to take a dip anyone?

And what about this twin-tub arrangement?

We spent a week away in the Lake District in the middle of the month. Unfortunately, we got 7 solid days of mist & rain.

The area still manages to be beautiful even in the worst of weathers though.

We stayed in Elterwater and spent our time walking in the surrounding hills… and then drying off in front of fires in our cottage … or the Britannia, the local village pub.

Fudge was always waiting for his next walk… of which there were many!

We did break it up with a day’s shopping, spending a couple of hours in Windermere. We picked up a few things including these immaculate 1970s headphones and some Holmegaard glass candle holders.

We also stocked up on nice things to eat and drink at Booths. It’s a small chain of food stores in the North of England – and a firm favourite of ours.

Last week we spent a day taking photos in Manchester – we’ll be doing a blog in the near future about vintage shopping in the city – we’ll keep you posted!

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Cocktails go so well with fashion, and we can always recommend a nice martini while wearing glamorous clothing. This is a 1960s mid-century modern glass cocktail pitcher from Holmegaard, smoky grey, 9 3/4″ tall, in very good condition, still with the original foil label, $45

SOLD

more photos available, email marcjoseph@marcjoseph.com

www.marcjoseph.com

Om jag hade en tom container, galet med dollar i en kappsäck och en omöblerad lägenhet som väntade hemma i Stockholm, då vet jag vad jag skulle göra i helgen. Nämligen tillbringa varenda sekund på Wright 20:s Mass Modern-auktion på 1440 West Hubbard.

Inte nog med att utbudet är överväldigande, även bilderna på möblerna är helt fantastiska. Det är bara att konstatera att det finns Amerikanare med smak för 50- och 60-talsinredning, även om det är svårt att tro när man ser till lägenheten vi just nu huserar i.

Nu drömmer jag om ett liknade auktionshus i Sverige, Lauritz har en del att jobba med om man säger så.

Jag får nog lov att svalka mig med en bytta Ben & Jerry Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough för att orka med promenaden till Wright 20:s visningslokal i eftermiddag.

My favourite Flickr find of the week has to be this picture of the amazing lamps at the Holmegaard glassworks taken by gubbex.

Visitors to the glassworks over the coming months will be able to see an exhibition of the work of Per Lutken. Widely acknowledged as one of the leading Scandinavian glass designers of the twentieth century, Per Lutken worked for Holmegaard for more than five decades from 1942 until 1998 and designed more than 3000 pieces.

The Per Lutken exhibition at the Holmegaard glassworks in Denmark runs from 14th March until 9th November.

(Photograph by John Hall)

These classic Gul vases (floor vases) were designed by Otto Brauer and produced by Holmegaard from 1962. The design inspiration was a similar vase by Per Lutken which appeared in 1958. Today the cased examples in bright pop art primary colours are the most sought after and the larger sizes can fetch a couple of hundred pounds, but I love the way the light reflects through these more affordable clear pieces.

They are available from Retro-ware at the Warwick Antiques Centre.