Vintage modern plastic design: December 23-December 29, 2013

Here are the items shared the week of December 23, 2013.  Included this week were a lamp, a hair dryer, a buttonholer, and a sculptural wall mirror.

Monday, December 23: Yellow plastic triangular lamp. Measures 11” tall and 7” wide.

Wednesday, December 25:  Orange Braun HLD 4 hair dryer.
Measures 5-1/2” by 4-1/2” by 3” in size.  Standard U.S. plug.

 

Saturday, December 28:  Modern, space age Singer buttonholer.  Copyright date on the instruction and information pamphlet is 1960.  Measures approximately 11” by 4-1/2”.

Sunday, December 29:  Finesse Originals zodiac mirror.  Terrific maximalist sculptural design.  It measures approximately 40” in diameter with a depth of approximately 6” or less and has an antiqued gold finish with an antiqued center mirror.

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Vintage modern plastic design: December 16-December 22, 2013

Here are the items shared the week of December 16, 2013.  Included this week were a calendar desk set, a vase, and a lamp.

Tuesday, December 17:  Acrylic desk calendar and container.  There are removable rings for the day of the week, date, and month in four languages: Italian, English, French, and German. There is space for three pencils as well as an opening for envelopes or other correspondence.  Measures 3-1/4” height by 3-1/4” wide.  Check out other Danish and mid century items at Bitofbutter on Etsy.

Thursday, December 19: Violet Pago Pago vase by Enzo Mari for Danese (1969).  This is the first original Pago Pago I’ve seen in a while.  eBay item 400627940968 sold on December 22, 2013 at 10:20:48 PST (France) for €205.50 ($280.94).  Five bidders placed 25 bids.

Friday, December 20:  Mushroom lamp with a glossy black metal body shaped in a smooth bottleneck-tapering curve.  The lamp is topped with a bright white plastic mushroom shade and a black cylindrical finial.  The twin socket under the shade holds two standard light bulbs.  The lamp stands a total of 17” in height, and the plastic dome shade is 14” in diameter.  Manufacturer unknown.

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Scrapes ’n Scratches first-aid cabinet | David L. Romanoff | David L. Romanoff Designs, United States of America | 1975

Scrapes ’n Scratches first-aid cabinet designed by David L. Romanoff in 1975.  Heavy duty plastic construction with strong metal hinges.  The printing on the front reads “scrapes ’n scratches” in red, with the letters ‘p’ and ‘t’ joined.  The shelf dividers are removable for custom configuration.  There are two mounting holes on the back for hanging on a wall.

eBay item 221313836840 ended November 12, 2013 at 18:51:49 PST.  Sold for $61.00 plus $11.00 shipping.  There were 2 bidders who placed 5 bids.

Scrapes ’n Scratches first-aid cabinet designed by David L. Romanoff in 1975.

Scrapes ’n Scratches first-aid cabinet, open.

Back side of the Scrapes ’n Scratches first-aid cabinet.

The imprint on the back reads:

Designed by
David L Romanoff
Romanoff Design Inc
Design Patent
No242406
Made in USA

Below are the two pages of United States Design Patent number D242,406 for the “First-Aid Cabinet,” filed September 22, 1975 and patented November 23, 1976.

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Bambu vase | Enzo Mari | Danese, Italy | 1969

Here is a large diameter, short height version of the Bambu vase by Enzo Mari for Danese. It is a shorter version of this Bambu vase.  The vase was issued in numerous shapes and styles, some of which are illustrated here. 

eBay item 251378518637 ended November 19, 2013 at 11:10:42 PST (Italy).  There were 2 bidders who placed 2 bids.  The vase brought $610.00.

   

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Vintage modern plastic design: December 9-December 15, 2013

Here are the items shared the week of December 9, 2013.  Included this week were a flip calendar, a booster seat, a paper towel holder, a kitchen timer, and a tape dispenser.

Monday, December 9:  Black plastic flip calendar.  Measures approximately 4-1/8” height by 3” at its widest by 2-3/4” depth.  The calendar has a slight taper upward.  Marked:

PARK SHERMAN DIV.
KITCHAM & McDOUGALL, INC.
ROSELAND, N.J., U.S.A.
MADE IN HONG KONG
US. AND FOREIGN PATENTS PENDING

Wednesday, December 11:  Cosco child booster seat. This booster seat can be inverted to give two different heights.

 

Friday, December 13:  Yellow Guzzini paper towel holder.  Measures 11” height with a 5” diameter base.  Will hold 9” rolls. Last month, this similar Guzzini paper towel rack was posted.

 

Saturday, December 14:  Orange red kitchen timer by Sergio Carpani for Italora.  Measures 2-1/4” height by 2” diameter at the base.

 

Sunday, December 15:  Green tape dispenser.  Measures 8” long by 4” height and weighs 2 pounds.

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Breger Gustavsberg pitcher | Carl-Arne Breger | Gustavsberg, Sweden | 1957

Carl-Arne Breger
Gustavsberg, Sweden
1957

Carl-Arne Breger was a Swedish industrial designer known for his work in plastics.  He was born in Trelleborg in 1923 and raised there.  Between 1943 and 1948, he studied at Konstfack in Stockholm.  In 1953, Breger began employment under Stig Lindberg at the Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory.

 
Gustavsberg logo.

Carl-Arne Breger’s most famous plastic product is probably this organic, sculptural water jug ​​made from polystyrene.  After 18 months of development, the pitcher was presented in February, 1959 in three colors: black, red and off-white.  It was in production for only a year since dangerous gasses were released as a result of gluing.  Between 1957 and 1959, Breger was design director for Bernadotte & Bjørn Industrial AB (the design office of Sigvard Bernadotte and Acton Bjørn in Stockholm) and in 1959 he started his own office, Breger Design in Malmö.  Breger was fantastically prolific, having designed thousands of objects over the course of his career.  Breger died in 2009.

The Breger pitcher for Gustavsberg measures 7” wide by 5” deep by 13-1/2” height and is signed with a manufacturer’s mark to underside (the Gustavsberg anchor logo) and also “MADE IN SWEDEN”.  There is also a paper label affixed to the bottom of the pitcher, giving the working temperature range, cautioning against the use of various cleaning solvents, and warning that the pitcher may take on strong smells of the contents.

The label reads:

Slagtålig STYRENPLAST

Materialet tål +70° och –40°C, svaga syror, svaga alkalier, fruktsaft, alkohol, Tål ej tri, tetra, aceton, bensol, bensin, mineralterpentin, aromatiska oljor t ex skaloljor av citrusfrukter, kryddnejlika.  Luktfritt, men tar lukt av starkt luktande ämnen.

Off-white

View Full Album

Red

Lot 182 in the Wright “Mass Modern” auction on June 27, 2009.  Sold for $94 against a pre-sale estimate of $150-200.

Black

 

Reference

Wikner, H. (1999, April 1). Skapade hela folkets tv-kanna. Sydsvenskan. Retrieved from http://www.sydsvenskan.se/familj/dodsfall/skapade-hela-folkets-tv-kanna/

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Vintage modern plastic design: December 2-December 8, 2013

Here are the items shared the week of December 2, 2013.  Included this week were napkin rings, a chair, a plant stand, a pillow, and a snack tray.

Monday, December 2:  Transparent acrylic apple napkin rings, which stand upright when a napkin is inside them.  The bottoms are marked “Bijan © 80 TAIWAN”.

Wednesday, December 4:  Child’s chair by Marco Zanuso in red.  Note:  Unsigned (pre-Kartell).  Measures 19-3/4” height.  This chair is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York).

Thursday, December 5:  White Rubbermaid (#2697) adjustable plant stand.  Measures 29” height and each of the four adjustable arms is 11” long.

Saturday, December 7:  12” square bullseye pillow.   The target is in yellow, red, and orange.  Marked “MASS ART 1968”

Sunday, December 8:   Orange snack tray divided into four sections.  Measures 17” across.  Marked “Lady Arnold CAT.#331”.

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