Here’s a modern living-dining area with hanging buffet table, and all the upholstery and curtaining is from Donald Brothers, the furniture by Gordon Andrews, and the painting by Frank Hodgkinson. The photograph itself was taken by Max Dupain. All those names together, that’s impressive!

In this room, the desk and goat’s head sculpture are by Gordon Andrews, the chairs by Bill Lucas, the table by Mathieu Mategot, and the painting by Rachel Roxburgh.

A cottage renovation by interior designer Marion Hall Best, ‘one of Australia’s most important and influential 20th century interior designers’. Sofas and coffee table made by E. A. Moulen, iron chair by Bill Lucas, more Donald Brothers upholstery, the mural on the wall by Dora Sweetapple (Hall Best’s sister), and the paintings by Michael Kmit.

Information on the designers here seems to be missing. I love the purple sofa and chairs.

Danish style modernist chair and sideboard/buffet. And that deep deep turquoise carpet. I don’t think it’s Feltex this time.

Kitchen advertisement for Tygan wallpapers. This is one … interesting … kitchen. Tartan wallpaper! Speckled lino floor! Dark green cupboards! Troughton and Young modernist light fittings! Floral curtains! It’s like a little bit of every style popular in the 50s all in the one room.

This is an ad for one of the Staffordshire pottery studios. I can’t recall which one. Casual dining for the well-off in 1958. They’ll come in from a game of tennis any second now.

Advertisement for Vynex upholstery. Vinyl-coated chairs aren’t very nice in the Australian summer. Those women are actually stuck to the chairs.

Found at Salvos in Fyshwick, a Danish-style mid-century modern chest of drawers. It’s got solid teak trim and handles, and an unusual plywood veneer. One of the drawers is stamped inside with “Gainsborough” and the company address in Melbourne. Needs a bit of cleaning up, but it’s still very nice! I put some felt under the TV so it won’t cause any damage. The little vase on the left was a Trash and Treasure find – the lady I bought it from reckoned it was an unmarked Diana factory second (there’s a little bit of the glaze missing). Either way, it’s pretty.

I also got these excellent dishes:

One was from Vinnies in Dickson, and the other from Vinnies in Queanbeyan. Nice weighty ceramic, signed “CT” on the bottom. I’m not really a pottery/ceramics person, so I have no idea who CT could be. If anyone knows, please tell! There are pictures of dishes like these in some of my mid-50s home decorating magazines. They’re in great condition, they look like they’ve sat in somebody’s display unit for the past 40,50, 60? years.

Knitting pattern – 3.5mb PDF

A March 1955 special feature on Canberra. Canberra was a relatively new city, and after WWII, modern architecture sprang up everywhere alongside the original Californian bungalows and (almost Arts and Crafts) cottages. There are many excellent examples, and the best place to read about them is the Canberra House blog. One of these excellent houses is actually up for sale: an Alex Jelinek house at 10 Gawler St, Deakin. It comes with its custom made Krimper furniture! Price is ‘by negotiation’. Canberra prices are pretty outrageous even for ordinary houses, but if I was the kind of person who had a lot of money to spend on a house, I’d be up for this one. Looking at the pictures, I wonder if those are the original bathrooms. The fittings look kind of 1978 and out-of-place.

Anyway, the Home Beautiful feature has sections on public architecture, such as at ANU; private homes, including floor plans and interiors; and local craftspeople making pottery and furniture. I’ve put it all into a PDF for download, it’s 30MB: Home Beautiful Goes to Canberra – March 1955.

Here’s an ad for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, date early-mid 1940s, I think, going by the pageboy hairstyle. A time when beer ads featured classy lassies wearing more than a bikini! (Artist placed the lady sitting way too far down the harp, incidentally. And sitting on the wrong side of it! Sorry, that’s my musician pedantry at work. )

Not sure exactly what this one’s about, but possibly hand lotion, as the copy reads “Reason for calluses on slim hands – harp playing”. Again sometime in the 1940s, and this time she’s on the correct side of the harp and at the right height!

Here’s one for Bufferin for arthritis! 1950s.

And lastly for today, the harp being used for its connotations of elegance in this ad for wallpaper and furnishing fabric by Sanderson of England (click to embiggen). This was from a 1952 Australian House and Garden magazine.

First, February. A full-skirted dress with a wrap-style bodice; a girl’s cap-sleeve frock; a sleeveless tennis dress.

Next, March.Interesting foldover-sweetheart neckline dress with pleated detailing on the front; frock with gathered panel bodice and a-line skirt; girl’s pinafore and blouse.

May! An autumn suit-dress with hip pockets and angular raglan sleeves; blouse with winged collar; A-line skirt; and gathered-shoulder bed jacket.

June brings some very stylish outfits for winter: a straight-skirted frock with layered hip pockets and kimono sleeves (accessorised with leopard muff!); a very full-skirted party frock with raglan cap sleeves; a full pleated skirt; a young girl’s double-breasted coat dress.

July brings sportswear: two styles of pencil-skirted walking suits with plain pocket decoration; a boy’s short pants suit; a toddler’s jumpsuit.

August presents frocks to make for spring: a 3/4 sleeved shirtdress; a turnup-cuffed short sleeved frock with a combined rollover and pleated sweetheart neckline; and a girl’s shirtdress.

September spring fling! A kimono cap-sleeved spring frock with crossover bodice; a suit dress with a wide spread collar, short sleeves and a pleated full skirt; and a girl’s pinafore dress.

October is time to start making your frocks for summer. Here we have a kimono cap sleeve dress with a twisted bodice detail and full circle skirt; a sleeveless dress with a very wide collar that almost forms cap sleeves; and a girl’s playsuit.

November has a sundress collection: a shirtwaist dress with a full gathered skirt; a frock with a camisole bodice with asymmetrical bodice buttoning and large pockets; a summer dress with matching cropped jacket and off-centre buttons on the skirt; and a girl’s puff-sleeve frock.

December, and dresses just perfect for wearing to Christmas events: A full-skirted dress with a pleated-detail bodice and scalloped trim; a circle skirt dress with short sleeves and a modest sweetheart neckline; two girl’s dresses – one more formal, the other a play dress.

in an online catalogue from Shapiro Auctioneers. The description suggests it’s likely to have been designed by Clement Meadmore, a famous Australian-American sculptor, who was designing furniture in the early 1950s. You may have seen his sculpture at the National Gallery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

He originally studied industrial design (with a strong interest in aeronautical engineering) at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and you can see that industrial-atomic-spaceage look throughout his designs:

These chairs were made in 1950, and sold for about $5000 in 2008.