Kaj Franck for Arabia.

I just bought this bowl (well, not this bowl in particular) off etsy yesterday. It's an enamel bowl with a mushroom design designed by the great Finnish designer Kaj Franck for Arabia, Finland's oldest ceramics manufacturer, where he was the head of the model design department from 1946 to 1961. You can read more about Kaj Franck here and here. Below is a collection of Arabia ceramics and enamelware compiled by Meet Me at Mike's. And below that is a letterpress mushroom coaster from Wiley Valentine via design*sponge.



[photos from (top to bottom): flickr user lafemmededada; flickr user meetmeatmikes; and design*sponge]

Textiles from Vera Neumann.

If you've ever wandered through a vintage store, you've probably encountered some brightly colored scarves with the name Vera scrawled in the corner accompanied by a ladybug. The scarves are probably the signature element of the body of work of Vera Neumann (1910-1993), an influential and prolific mid-century artist and designer. I've known about Vera scarves for awhile but only recently discovered the rest of her creations, including fabric, wallpaper, table and bed linens, apparel, and dishware. This Vera sounds like a few other Veras (Vera Wang and Vera Bradley) we know, right? Here are some of her fabulous designs, most of which are available on etsy and ebay.

Above at top: circle of pink tiles tablecloth, buy it now for $45 from ebay store Vickie Jean's Things. Below that is a round tablecloth for $25 from etsy seller fuzzymama.

L to R: pair of linen tea towels, currently $25 from ebay seller somewhereintime2; sunflower tea towel, currently $7 from ebay seller ccc0336.

L to R: pair of yellow rose tea towels, currently $10 from ccc0366; yellow ranunculus tablecloth, buy it now for $30 from Vickie Jean's Things.

The remaining items are not for sale, but I wanted to show you my favorite Vera pattern yet! Pillowcases from flickr user jillbliss; towel from skinnylaminx's photostream. For more cool Vera Neumann patterns, check out the Vera Neumann flickr group here.

Linear by Raymond Loewy for Rosenthal.

The name Raymond Loewy may not ring a bell, but unless you're blind or have been living in a cave, you've seen his work everywhere. The "father of industrial design" designed the logos for the U.S. Postal Service, Exxon, Shell, and Nabisco, to name a few that are still easily recognizable. Other famous designs include Air Force One, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, NASA's Skylab space station, and the Coca-Cola bottle. You can read more about Loewy and see more of his work here, here, and here. In the late 1940s, Loewy created several fine china designs for the German porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal, including the set of 8 plates (pictured above) from the Linear collection, available for $39 from one of my favorite etsy sellers blue bell bazaar.

[The photos of the Shell sign and the Scenicruiser are from flickr users metropol21 and GaryQ respectively.]