Blink! An Ystad Metall Candelabra

A few weeks ago I read the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a great book, certainly a recommendable read. It explains the different sort of snap decisions we make, and how they can influence our behaviour in a positive or negative way.

The book begins with a case of an old Greek statue, a Kouros, that is brought to the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. The statue is presented to the museum, they really want to purchase it, but as it costs an enormous amount of money, they research it extensively. After their research they decide the statue is the real deal, and buy it. But, shock and horror,  when some of the specialists in the field later see the statue, they instinctively know that it is a forgery.

So, how does this relate to Fat Lava? It very much reminded me of the process of "hunting" for goodies on markets. When I'm scouring stalls for Mid Century Modern, I know in a split second if there is something interesting for me. Even if there are more than a hundred items on the table, I'll spot what I want immediately, sometimes from three rows across the hall.

The amazing thing is that this also works with items I have never seen in real life before. Last weekend I was at a market, and from the corner of my eye I spotted this beautiful candleholder by Ystad Metall.

I had only seen images of this online, but it is very high on my oh-how-I-wish-I-will-come-across-one-of-these-in-the-wild-list. And there it was! As Malcolm Gladwell describes, in less than a second I knew what it was, and that it really was a Ystad candlestick.

And it is every bit as beautiful as I imagined. The only thing that surprised me is that it is slightly lighter than I anticipated.

The candlestick was probably designed by Gunnar Ander*, somewhere in the 1960s. Gunnar Ander was a Swedish designer, that lived from 1908 to 1976. He mainly worked for the Lindshammar glass factory, but was also active for Ystad Metall for a while.

Although I cannot confirm this with certainty, the glass discs in the candelabra are attributed to Kosta Boda, and possibly made Erik Hoglund. It at least is mentioned that Kosta Boda produced glass for Ystad, so it is likely that these were also made by them.

For me, the combination of the translucent glass and the dark metal are what makes this such a strong design. It's a bold and modern piece. The piece is marked Ystad Metall on one of the legs.

For now (although it might at some point become available in the shop) it lives happily on my beautiful antique writing desk, between part of my collection of Roth vases, and a Super lamp by Martine Bedin. I think it compares well with these iconic designs.

*I believe this is his correct name, but I also see his name described as Gunnar Anderssen or Andersson in places.

This Little Vase Went to the Market

A few weeks ago we decided to expand this little online business of ours to our first market offline. Now, I have been to plenty of markets to buy goodies, but I had never actually been a seller before. Needless to say, I was super excited, but also a tiny bit scared. What if we wouldn't sell anything? What if people don't actually like my beautiful vintage goodies?

The weeks before the fair we went through all the inventory we have, sorting what we wanted to take, deciding on the perfect mix between Fat Lava pottery and other Mid Century items, making price lists, and packing everything carefully. In addition to that there were a million of little things that needed to be arranged, like arranging carrier bags, getting chairs to sit on, assemble enough change, etc., etc.

We decided to go to a special collector's fair near our home town, as we figured we would have a better chance of selling mid century items here than on a general antique fair.

I tried very hard to make my stand as pretty as possible, grouping certain items together, based on era and color. And I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the result!

So how was the experience? Did we sell some beautiful vintage goodies? Of course we did! We had two very good days on Friday (build-up & early bird day) and Saturday, but Sunday was pretty slow for us. We sold more glass than Fat Lava, especially Dutch glass was popular (but that makes sense, as it was a Dutch market).

Some things we learned:

• If your fair has a build-up day, use it. We actually sold the most to early visitors and fellow dealers on this day. And I also scored one very nice bargain myself.
• In addition to that, come early in the morning to the fair. It'll give you some time to re-arrange stuff, and the people looking for the best stuff will be there early as well.
• Don't forget to arrange change, it sucks if you have to ask fellow dealers for it.
• Bring business cards with the address of your online venue.
• Smile!

• Try to make a chat to everyone that stops for your stand, and give people your business card. You brought them with a purpose , and even if people didn't buy something, if they are interested, they might purchase something later.

• Talk to your fellow dealers. It's nice to have a chat, and most of the dealers are willing to share valuable tips & tricks.
• If possible, bring someone to help you. Lugging all these boxes to the stand is heavy work, and you'll need that restroom break at some point during the day.

We'll definitely do this again, as it was a great experience. I still have many, many things to learn, so if you have any more tips, let me know! For now, if you want to check out my goodies, go have a look at www.vaseomania.etsy.com.

Fancy a Cuppa Tea?

Although I mainly buy and sell West-German Fat Lava pottery and Mid Century glass as I collect these items myself, I do see a lot of wonderful other vintage or antique items when visiting fairs or shops. And being blessed with the collectors gen, sometimes you just fall in love with something, and you need to buy it.

A few weeks ago me and my husband were browsing one of the last outdoor markets of the year, it was lovely weather and there were a lot of sellers, and we found a plethora of goodies. Two of my favorite finds that day were tea-themed, and they complement each other perfectly!

First of all, we came upon this fab teacup and saucer. This isn't any old teacup, but proper British bone china. This piece was made as a commemorative item for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer by the company Regency China Ltd, founded in 1953 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. As it was made for the Royal Wedding, we can date it exactly to 1981, which is always lovely.

Commemorative cup for Charles and Diana by Regency China Ltd, 1981

Sadly I wasn't yet around in 1981, so I don't have any memories of that royal wedding, but I do remember seeing lady Di on the television during my childhood, and thinking what a beautiful and stylish lady she was.

Lady Diana, collage courtesy of fabsugar

Although I realize an enormous amount of commemorative goodies must have been made for the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana, just as was the case for the Royal Wedding of William and Kate, I do think some items are good investments that have the potential to become real collectibles. This cup and saucer are quite high quality and have some lovely transfer prints, in pretty pastel colors. However, I mainly fell in love with it because to me this item is so quintessentially British, and I've had a thing for the UK ever since I was a little girl.

Now, I was already a happy bunny after finding the teacup and saucer, but things were about to get even better! One of the other sellers was selling this stunning set of six Mid Century silver demitasse spoons. Each spoon has a different color of enamel, they come in their original box , and look like they were never used. How can you not fall in love with these, they are so pretty!

Egon Lauridsen Mid Century Danish silver enamel spoons

The spoons were made by Egon Lauridsen from Denmark. This silver smith worked in Copenhagen, and the particular mark on this spoons was used between 1936 and 1966. Sadly, I couldn't find more information about the maker. It does seem like this kind of enamel on silver items were common in Scandinavia in the fifties and sixties; in addition to spoons, bowls and cruet sets, a lot of silver on enamel jewellery can also be found.

Image courtesy of Veilinghuis Peerdeman

I have to admit that I have a bit of a weak spot for enamel on silver, and especially guilloche enamel. A few years ago I was at a local auction where I spotted the most beautiful silver miniature powder compact with green enamel guilloche decoration. It was made in a way that you could wear it as a pendant on a necklace. It even had the original little powder puff. Although I caught a bit of auction fever during bidding, I still wasn't able to purchase the compact. I regret not buying it until today.

Although it is obviously not the same, finding these pretty little teaspoons really made my day!