World of Kitsch

Marks & Spencers are my absolute favourite store. I love their food, wear their clothes (sure sign of middle age creeping in) & most Saturdays we have breakfast in their cafe.

They are celebrating their 125th year, & as I've blogged before, they are celebrating with beautiful retro branding of their grocery items.
They've got the vintage look so right, not a tacky reproduction of what they imagine retro to be, but genuine wonderful illustration.

I was delighted to see their Christmas gift range include a lot of the retro branded kitchen items, but disappointed my local medium sized store didn't have any wrapping paper or cards in that style.

Dandering around the store however, I found this colourful dolly mixture wrapping paper. It's photograph yumminess has become the Christmas wrapping paper for us this year.

I plan on Christmas being kitsch of course. To do this I'm going to dress the tree how we used to when I was a child. Mismatched ornaments, different kinds of fairy lights, and I think the paper will go wonderfully with the assault on the eyes!

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

This music box belonged to my late Gran Phillips. Probably why I have a thing for little cuckoo clocks & weather houses.

Currently resides at my parents' but plan on asking Mum can I take it to the kitsch house village that's building up at mine.

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

I bought this disgusting thing for 50p, more to show my husband than to keep. He thinks it's funny, so it now has lived the the cabinet for two years.

It's another of my "is this TOO ugly?" purchases, but i'm not allowed to get rid of it.

I'd love to know in what serious interior decoration this would look good. His golden 'tache is my favourite feature.

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

I'm a bit of a house stalker. I blame it on studying architecture at uni for a year, rather than being a bricks & mortar pervert.

Not sure whether it's a faux pas to take photos of the outside of other people's houses, but there's a number of amazingly kitsch homes locally I have in mind for this blog.

This one on our block is terribly cute. The porch archway is like a giant birdhouse door.
I would love to have a nosy round inside, I can imagine it being the 1970s in there, all shag pile carpets & lava lamps.

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

People have mentioned this print to me when I have posted creepy children's art previously. My own gran had it too, so I decided to hunt it out online.

It's has a very kitsch backstory. The artist Charles Burton Barber, was commissioned by Queen Victoria the First to paint portraits of her grandchildren with their pets.
Kitsch thrives in the market of trying to make small, working class homes far grander than they are (huge ornaments etc), so a mass produced print by an artist for the Royals fits this category perfectly.

Personally I couldn't own this print myself, it used to spook me so much as a child at my gran's house, I wouldn't want it.

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

This plate doesn't fit in with my usual retro kitsch items, but I found it in an Oxfam for 50p & now use it as a spoon rest in the kitchen.

Don't know much about it,or who is pictured. It says, "Fabieene Jouvin, Paris" on the back. I googled it but didn't find anything of help.
It looks like it could be from the mass produced kitsch decor of Urban Outfitters or the like.

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

Another of my parents' surprise purchases for my old bedroom which they are doing up since I moved out.

I think they plan on painting the gold frame white, but even so, it's quite over the top!

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

I've touched on old school tattoo, nautical kitsch before & thought I'd include this original painting by Brighton's Bob Done.

I commissioned this for my first wedding anniversary as my 'paper' gift for my husband.
We are both quite heavily tattooed with old school designs, so I knew he'd appreciate this.

I've been thinking lately about getting a tattoo dedicated to my love of kitsch, but can't decide which iconic item to have etched onto myself!

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

My husband picked up this soda siphon, being into all breweralia (not sure if that's the right term).

I don't know much about it, but it's in the kitchen and doesn't do much!

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet

This chair for children from Ikea is a lovely little copy of the Eames era Aarnio chair.
It's available in red & orange or blue & grey.

Our son loves his, and we can throw all the stray toys into it at the end of play time & pull down the cover.
It also swivels like the original.

Claire

Loading mentions Retweet