Jean Painlevé jewellery : of seahorses and cinema
Wear a piece of Jean Painlevé bakelite jewellery, and you’re not just wearing Art Deco, but also a slice of cinema history.
Cocktail stick sets to pique your interest
Art Deco cocktail stick sets were a French speciality. They were made for canapés, snails, shellfish, cherries in eau-de-vie and other morsels – but most of all, for admiring… Trust the French to turn spearing an olive into an art form!
Robj Paris – a true taste of Art Deco
We recently acquired this quirky quartet of Art Deco liquor bottles by Robj Paris – they’re available to buy here. But who or what was Robj? Time to revisit the story behind these whimsical objects from the Jazz Age…
Pierre d’Avesn: designs on Art Deco
Pierre D’Avesn: designs on Art Deco Les Mouettes vase c1925 by P. D’Avesn, available to buy In an Art Deco world, all seagulls would be elongated and elegant, like the ones that cruise around this vase by Pierre d’Avesn (1901-1984). It was made around 1926-1930, when D’Avesn was working as an independent designer. Unlike René…
Two early 20thc French potters: Jean Pointu and Léon Pointu
It’s spring, and here are the tulips to prove it, modelling a trio of pots by a duo of potters: Jean and Léon Pointu. Welcome to a world of refined shapes and gorgeous glazes.
Twinkle, twinkle, Pierrefonds pottery
Twinkle, twinkle, Pierrefonds pottery I do love crystalline stoneware, so I was thrilled to find this exceptional Art Deco Pierrefonds pottery vase (available to buy here). The rotund shape gives it Art Deco gravitas, and the crystalline glaze is deep and scintillating. It’s a bit of a star turn, even by Pierrefonds standards. Few people use the…
Louis and Gilbert Metenier – stoneware studio pottery of the Art Deco years
Metenier – or Métenier – is an important name in pre-war French stoneware. Once popular with well-to-do homemakers of the 1920s and 1930s, pottery by Louis and his son, Gilbert Metenier is prized by collectors.
Roger Méquinion, Art Deco ceramist
Roger Méquinion, Art Deco ceramist This splendid Art Deco charger by Roger Méquinion is a story in itself. It’s a fascinating example of the crossover between one medium (glass) and another (clay.) It’s also an example of the creativity that drove the Art Deco movement, a willingness to experiment and extend the boundaries of traditional…
Aluminite Frugier porcelain two’s company
Two’s company … Chilly days call for chocolate chaud – especially when it’s served in something as pretty as this French vintage Aluminite Frugier porcelain breakfast pot from the 1920s/30s. It’s ideal for two people, or just for treating yourself. (Qui peut le plus, peut le moins*, as the French saying goes). Rescued from decades…
Leune, and a brace of exotic birds
Leune, and a brace of exotic birds This flamboyant Art Deco vase is a perfect example of the taste for enamelled glass in France in the 1920s. It was made by Maison Leune, a Paris glass factory in business from around 1900 to 1930. What strikes you first are the ‘hot’ vitrified colours, the vibrant…