The Harp Lounge » atomic

Ars gratia artis

Harpy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:24:21 +0000

Fiddling about with Illustrator this evening, I made this, a tribute to 1950s abstract-atomic-biomorphic-pop art. It was inspired by a painting in the background of a Shag work.

Clement Meadmore furniture

Harpy — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:25:23 +0000

I went searching for lamps like the one in the advertisement in the previous post, and found this:

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.

Recent op shop finds

Harpy — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:44:04 +0000

Salvos Fyshwick had all handbags for $2, and what did I spy amongst the 90s vinyl? This! A vintage brown lizardskin handbag. Est. 1950s. The lining is leather with two elasticated pockets. After I get some reptile leather conditioner and tidy it up, the only flaw is a little crack in the underside of the handle. Bargain!

Salvos in Tuggeranong had a bunch of pretty glassware and ceramics. I got this oval pink ceramic plate, it looks 1950s but could be newer. There’s no “Dishwasher and Microwave safe” label on the underside, in fact there are no markings at all. Mystery!

I also got these very cute space-age themed drinking glasses.

And these 1970s blue glass bits. They’re not really wide enough to be parfait or dessert dishes, so they’re probably brandy or liqueur glasses. They came in a shiny black PVC box with a YSL Parfum label inside (obviously a gift pack of some kind).

I also bought some very deco-looking EPNS bits, but I’ll post photos of those after I remember to buy some Silvo.