Antiques Magazine Archive, March 2015
A most unusual retirement gift
Clocks have been given over the years to long serving members of staff by companies on the day of their retirement.
This French filigree brass weather station incorporating a clock, thermometer and barometer was presented to a Miss F M Richards on her retirement in June 1925 by Miss E B Bennett. The engraving is very discreetly executed and is not at all obvious. The weather station has been completely restored and is in fine working order. Sadly the days of giving gifts such as clocks, and then later wristwatches, have passed as we now live in a very much more mobile era and people stay in jobs for a very much shorter time. As my son said (happily very much tongue in cheek), why do you need clocks and watches these days as all the information you need is on a mobile phone?
Art Deco Interiors
We all have a favourite decade or era whether it’s their fashion, furnishings, architecture, music or art you love most. If its clothes from a certain era we admire, and we love vintage fashion, then we’ll emulate their style of dress.
If like me, you like architecture and interior furnishings from particular eras, then your love may be expressed in the type of house you choose to live in, or the way you choose to furnish its interiors.
Art Deco furnishings
One particular favourite period of mine is Art Deco. It’s far more modern than I would normally feel comfortable with, but there is something so fresh, so new and exotic about Art Deco, that despite its modernist feel, it still retains something old, rich and fragrant, reminiscent of a time gone by.
Botanical Interiors
This year interiors are taking a botanical turn as walls and furnishings are turned into different shades of green. And you can’t but help but admire the shades and patterns currently on offer.
Even if you weren’t considering a refurb or change of décor this year, it’s enough to tempt you into change. Even Mathew Williamson has decided to chip in with some gorgeous wallpaper designs for Osborne & Little. They capture nature’s miracles perfectly, with dragonflies, wild birds and flora and fauna in a variety of beautiful hues that are bound to transform any room.
Mothers day ideas
Mother’s Day, we’re told, was created by American Anna Jarvis in the early 20th century, to honour her mother whom she loved so much. While Jarvis had the best intentions at heart, like so many heartfelt ideas, big companies soon got in on the act. Even though Woodrow Wilson, U.S. President, got in on the act by officially recognising Mother’s Day in 1914, by that stage Jarvis’s original idea was out of her hands.
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