Ancient Industries

2012-01-13T06:34:00.001-05:00

Living: Mini prints by

John Dilnot at AIUK.

2012-01-12T15:40:00.003-05:00

Living: 1965.

2012-01-10T19:43:00.005-05:00

Éteint (présumé):

Julia Child's kitchen, 81, Roo de Loo, Paris.

Photographs by Paul Child.

2012-01-04T18:11:00.011-05:00

R.I.P: Ronald Searle (1920-2011).

2012-01-03T18:49:00.003-05:00

Extinct: Fashion forecast, Spring 1870.

Slippers at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

2011-12-30T16:44:00.014-05:00

Living: Loden-Plankl,

a Viennese family run business

established 1830.

2011-12-28T06:40:00.001-05:00

Living: Millbrook holdall,

retrieved from the 1950s archives of

Brooks Saddles, Bags, Etc., est. 1866.

2011-12-27T18:05:00.009-05:00

Living: Gillies at Crockett & Jones,

a family run company est 1879.

2011-12-21T16:29:00.004-05:00

Living: Super Choc-o Food, a collaboration between

Valerie Confections and Commune Design, containing

darkened milk chocolate, a hint of caramel, dried pears,

apricots, golden raisins, macadamia nuts, cashews,

almonds, sunflower seeds and peanuts.

2011-12-20T21:57:00.004-05:00

Extinct (generally): Yorkshire Christmas Pye.

"First make a good standing Crust, let the Wall and

Bottom be very thick; bone a Turkey, a Goose, a

Partridge and a Pigeon. Season them all very well.

Open the fowls all down the back and bone them;

first the pigeon, then the partridge, cover them; then

the fowl, then the goose, and then the turkey, which

must be large; lay them in the crust, then have a hare

ready cased [skinned] and wiped with a clean cloth.

Cut it to pieces; season it, and lay it as close as you

can to one side; on the other side woodcocks, moor

game, and what sort of wild fowl you can get. Put at

least four pounds of butter into the pye, then lay on

your lid, which must be a very thick one, and let it

be well baked. The crust will take a bushel of flour.

These pies are often sent to London in a box as

presents therefore the walls must be well built."

—Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, 1747.

Still Life of a Pie, 1884, by Guillaume Fouace.

2011-12-16T14:57:00.000-05:00

Shopping: Mushroom brush,

made by hand in Sweden,

at Ancient Industries UK.

2011-12-15T18:17:00.005-05:00

Shopping: Fresh Laundry +

School Paper Glue scented candles in

galvanized buckets from Britanny,

at Ancient Industries.

2011-12-14T07:55:00.004-05:00

Shopping: The Nutscene*

beech twine stand with cutter
at Ancient Industries UK.

*Those nice jute people
in Angus, Scotland.

2011-12-13T16:27:00.001-05:00

Shopping: Buster Brown paper doll,

made by Shackman, at Ancient Industries.

2011-12-12T19:58:00.003-05:00

Shopping: Cumbrian dipped Yorkshire

beeswax candles at Ancient Industries UK.

2011-12-09T13:35:00.002-05:00

Shopping: Winter nature cards created

by John Dilnot at Ancient Industries UK.

2011-12-08T13:26:00.002-05:00

Shopping: The new English town

sock selection, at Ancient Industries.

2011-12-07T00:02:00.001-05:00

Shopping: German cookie cutters
from Ancient Industries UK.

2011-12-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Shopping:

The drip-free candle (patented 1900),

perforated vertically so the wax runs down

the centre, not the sides. From the Breton

company Bougies La Francaise,

available at Ancient Industries.

2011-12-05T08:09:00.004-05:00

Shopping:
Mini enamel kinder ladles from Germany,
available at Ancient Industries UK.

2011-12-02T16:10:00.003-05:00

Postcard from: Appenzellerland, Switzerland.

Photograph by Gabriele von Bülow Wilson.

2011-12-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

Extinct: Edward Gorey at

Anchor Books, 1953-1960.

Draw everything including the type

with no more than 3 colours please.

More examples here.

2011-11-30T08:10:00.004-05:00

Great Dixter

'We wanted a cottagey stately home kind of feel'

from Signs of the Times by Martin Parr, 1992

(not photographed at Great Dixter).

Living: The cottagey stately home at Great Dixter.

2011-11-29T13:40:00.005-05:00

Extinct: Fashion illustration in Vogue.

Cecil Beaton drawings, photographs, costume

designs and book covers on show at the

Museum of the City of New York.

2011-11-28T21:43:00.002-05:00

Introducing: The red ticking scarf.

Made by Johnstons of Elgin,

of silk, wool, linen + cashmere.

Available at Ancient Industries.

2011-11-26T17:44:00.009-05:00

Satin waistcoat embroidered

with coloured silk, Gloucester, 1770

Living: The costume department at the

V & A, inspiration for The Tailor Gloucester.

"I have been delighted to find I may draw

some most beautiful 18th century clothes

at the South Kensington Museum."

—Beatrix Potter, 1903.

2011-11-22T12:09:00.004-05:00

Living: The Horace Batten boot jack, patented 1929,

"it holds both the heel and the toe enabling the greatest

possible force to be used in removing the boot."

2011-11-17T09:21:00.003-05:00

Extinct, generally: The Jabot.

A decorative lace attachment to the front of

the neck, preferred by discerning gentlemen.

Self-Portrait Wearing a Jabot, c. 1751,

by Maurice Quentin de la Tour.

2011-11-15T19:33:00.003-05:00

Resourceful: Danish old age pensioners knit

for Danish fashion labels (and they put their

earnings in the entertainments kitty).

Stills from Kaffeslabberas.com.

2011-11-10T12:16:00.003-05:00

Introdução: The elusive pastel de nata arrives in

New York, courtesy of this Portuguese company.

2011-11-09T12:39:00.004-05:00

Living: The Power Cut Kit.

10 candles, one galvanized box,

a lot of bright reflected light.

Available at Ancient Industries.

2011-11-08T08:12:00.000-05:00

181st street and Broadway, New York

Hotel St George, Brooklyn Heights

All locations of Longchamps

Langston Hughes

Neglected: Winold Reiss, (1886-1953).

Painter, illustrator, graphic designer

+ interior designer, among other things.

2011-11-07T09:15:00.017-05:00

Interior + graphic design by Winold Reiss

Paul Specht and his Hotel Alamac Orchestra

Hotel Alamac in Atlantic City advertising

the opening of Hotel Alamac in New York.

"Opens July 1923, 600 Rooms, Baths"

"Once, a terrible number of years ago, when

Seymour and I were eight and six, our parents

gave a party for nearly sixty people in our three and

a half rooms at the old Hotel Alamac, in New York."

The Panic in Needle Park, shot in and

around the Hotel Alamac; Joan Didion and

John Gregory Dunne stayed there in 1967

for research. The studio of Duncan Hannah

is pictured above the DRUGS sign.

Living: The Hotel Alamac, built in 1923,

New York residence of Ancient Industries.

Call ENdicott 2-5000 to reserve a room.

2011-11-03T14:37:00.014-04:00

Selling: The Book of Blokes by

Sir William Nicholson, 1929.

2011-11-02T08:25:00.001-04:00

Revealed: World's oldest Christmas

pudding discovered in back of cupboard.

2011-10-31T11:45:00.004-04:00

Living: The autumn bonfire.

Science with Peter debuts at the

Observer Organic Allotment blog.

Above painting: Autumn Leaves,

by John Everett Millias, 1856.

2011-10-27T14:32:00.000-04:00

Living: The Turnabout Skirt, woven by

Pendleton, a family company since 1863.

2011-10-26T19:24:00.004-04:00

Living: The Pendleton Board Shirt. Popularized

by the Beach Boys (formerly the Pendletones).

Still woven in Pendleton, Oregon, U. S of A.

2011-10-25T16:30:00.006-04:00

Living: The V & A open a

permanent photography gallery.

Audio slideshow by Jim Powell.

2011-10-24T08:43:00.003-04:00

Selling: Ancient Industries + AIUK's own

hot water bottle and hand knitted cover combo

in New York Club Monaco stores this week.

(Columbus Avenue and 57th Street).

2011-10-21T13:42:00.011-04:00

The bakery next door "full of polite young

men in blazers (Uppingham School) forming an

orderly queue for jam tarts and Chelsea buns."

Walnut cake, a favourite among artistic types.

Battenburg cake "they do a very good one, much in demand."

"The non-twee tea shop with porcelain cups. And when

you turn over your tea cup you find a little piece of

shortbread waiting there."

Not self service.

Living: Baines vs Beans. For those not interested in
sitting on high stools sipping syrup-infused coffee at
Beans,
there is
Baines
over the road in Uppingham, Rutland.
Established
as a confectioners by Pa Baines in 1867, his
great great granddaughter,
Kate Baines,
has brought
the
adjoining
tea
room
back to life.
Photographs and
reportage
from News From Nowhere.

2011-10-19T15:38:00.004-04:00

Living:

Ancient Industries x Johnstons of Elgin

= Club Monaco this Christmas.

2011-10-17T18:48:00.006-04:00

Ben Pentreath, 2011

Islington Council, 1967

Walter Sickert, 1929

Living: The Hanging Gardens of Islington.

Once considered the less desirable side of

Noel Road because of its generous

rat population.

2011-10-12T13:41:00.010-04:00

Joe Orton outside 25 Noel Road, Islington

Illegal decoupage at 25 Noel Road

Exposed: Joe Orton + Kenneth Halliwell's

defaced library books on show at the

Islington Museum.

2011-10-10T15:02:00.001-04:00

113 Willow Street, somewhat changed.

Poplar Street from Willow Street,

now the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

43-49 Willow Place,

unchanged.

Columbia Heights from Pierrepont Street,

re-built.

Living and extinct:

Changing New York, a Federal Art Project

by Berenice Abbott. All above photographs

taken in Brooklyn Heights in May 1936.

2011-10-09T13:07:00.006-04:00

Endangered: Iris Hantverk,

providing employment to the

visually impaired since 1903.

Via Emma's Design Blogg,

available at Ancient Industries.

2011-10-05T18:04:00.007-04:00

Silver Casket and Red leather Box, 1920

A Road Near Rottingdean, 1912

Rose Lustre, 1920

Snow in the Horseshoe, 1927

Living: Sir William Nicholson, 1872-1949,

with an exhibition and a catalogue raisonne.

2011-10-04T19:28:00.003-04:00

Extinct: Fall fashion not

coming to a store near you.

Photo by Richard Rutledge, 1954.

2011-10-03T11:47:00.005-04:00

Living: Jack o' lantern. Of obscure British and

Irish origin where lanterns were carved out of swedes,

turnips, and the mangelwurzel. The Pumpkin then provided

a more generous canvas for immigrants to the New World.

Embossed stickers available at Ancient Industries.

2011-09-30T13:20:00.007-04:00

Something for the weekend: Background designs

for The Little Mermaid, c. 1987, by Rowland B. Wilson.

(Click to enlarge).

2011-09-28T12:51:00.002-04:00

Living:

The Danish Modern Bat Mobile.

Available at Ancient Industries.

2011-09-27T21:47:00.002-04:00

Living: Miffy, a Dutch bunny born in 1955.

2011-09-26T20:45:00.004-04:00

Living: Child portraits by Sarah McMenemy.

2011-09-23T12:50:00.003-04:00

The Irish Girl, 1860

Living: Ford Madox Brown, re-assessed,

at the Manchester Art Gallery.

2011-09-22T20:31:00.007-04:00

Living: Harris Tweed celebrates its centenary.

Photographs by Lara Platman, "the landscape is the

material and the material is the landscape."

2011-09-19T18:47:00.003-04:00

New old word: The bin•dle•stiff (early C20th).

A hobo carrying a bundle, from "bundle" + "stuff".

Above: Joel McCrea in Sullivan's Travels.

2011-09-15T13:42:00.004-04:00

Bring back: The rolltop desk.

A mid-nineteenth century American icon with

space for everything (including escaped convicts), it

was replaced by the steel desk in the early twentieth.

2011-09-13T20:10:00.003-04:00

What we wore: In 1790.

From the shoe collection

at the V & A Museum.

2011-09-12T08:26:00.004-04:00

Living: Margaret Howell's 10 best product

designs. Above: Abacus tubular steel lighting by

David Mellor, 1955. "His designs work without

drawing attention to themselves, as the best

design should."

2011-09-10T13:02:00.004-04:00

The Flying Scud*: Demolished.

Living + extinct: Truman's East End pubs.

Via SCP Design Department Store.

* cloud movement, missile, fishing fly

2011-09-09T16:20:00.004-04:00

Forgotten: Charles Le Maire, 1897-1985,

costume designer for the Ziegfeld Follies, later

wardrobe director for All About Eve and others.

Above: Greenwich Village Follies, 1925-1926

from the New York Public Library collection.

2011-09-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

Living: Wool Week, 5th-11th September.

2011-09-06T18:12:00.004-04:00

Next big thing:

The iHoldaphone (patent pending).

2011-09-05T13:42:00.004-04:00

Living: Modern architecture, Ben Pentreath style.

2011-09-02T12:26:00.003-04:00

Living: Something for the weekend.

2011-09-01T14:58:00.005-04:00

Living: The truth about cabbages + mustard gas.

Photograph of cabbage by News from Nowhere.

2011-08-30T20:05:00.004-04:00

Mildred Pierce uniform,

worn by Joan Crawford, 1945

"Ozmite" jacket designed by Adrian

for The Wizard of Oz, 1939

It Only Happens When I Dance

With You. Worn by Anne Miller in

Easter Parade, 1948

Selling: The Debbie Reynolds Collection

(actually sold June 18th, 2011)

2011-08-24T06:55:00.000-04:00

Bring back: The teddy bear coat.

Photograph by Eugene Robert Richee.

2011-08-23T07:09:00.000-04:00

Extinct: Isetta, 1953-1962. In the event

of a crash, the driver and passenger were to

exit through the canvas sunroof.

2011-08-22T13:40:00.012-04:00

Living: Pastelería tradicional, Menorca,

home of the Pastisset. Lower two photographs

by Lucy Slater and Reed Wilson.

2011-08-18T16:14:00.000-04:00

Living: Eleanor Pritchard wool throws
woven in a traditional mill in Wales, and
influenced by the English landscape
and mid-20th century British art.

2011-08-17T16:03:00.001-04:00

Pardoned: The rat. Accused of

spreading the Black Death plague,

now pronounced Not Guilty.

2011-08-16T13:12:00.009-04:00

Rescuing: Henry Lamb, his portrait by

Duncan Hannah, pajamas and espadrilles

rescued from The Burning House, featured

on Anthropology's The Anthropolgist.

Photograph by Foster Huntington.

2011-08-15T07:25:00.000-04:00

Living: Mike Turtons Quality Butchers, formerly

W. H. Andrew, Purveyor & Family Butcher,

est. 1855. Photographs taken at Ilfracombe,

North Devon, by Jesse Carrington.

2011-08-11T07:24:00.001-04:00

Living: Piccadilly Pleasures.

Patrick Hamilton chic by

Old Town, photographed at the

Red Lion, St. James's, by Matt Hind.

2011-08-10T07:50:00.000-04:00

Living, in display cases: Clarice Cliff.

Her Bizarre series was partly influenced

by the textiles of Sonia Delaunay.

2011-08-09T07:47:00.000-04:00

Extinct: The black rubber floating device.

Photograph by Jacques Henri Lartigue.

2011-08-08T13:50:00.001-04:00

Living: Giffords Circus, currently at

Michinhampton Common, Gloucestershire.

Photograph by Reed Wilson.

2011-08-03T21:04:00.003-04:00

Loving: Un-shy wiring.

Via Old Chum, via Sit and Read.

2011-08-02T11:21:00.003-04:00

Living: The Ian Mankin grain sack tea

towel, woven in Lancashire, once the centre

of the British textiles industry (see Potted

History No. 3 for further edification).

Available at Ancient Industries.

2011-07-29T10:46:00.002-04:00

Living: AIUK at Uppingham* Market today.

*in the county of Rutland, East Midlands, UK

2011-07-28T20:51:00.004-04:00

Back from the cobblers' graveyard:

Walk-Over Shoes, since 1758, on and off.

2011-07-27T17:13:00.010-04:00

Great Scott Fishing Bag

Handy Fishing Bag

Living: Nigel Cabourn +

Brady + Harris Tweed,

Autumn/Winter 2011.

2011-07-26T14:20:00.003-04:00

Living: Pillivuyt Louis XVIII porcelain

chocolate pot, modelled after the king's silver

pot de chocolat chaud. Available this

autumn from Ancient Industries.

2011-07-25T07:50:00.001-04:00

Thorpe, Mitsi, Mark

Prendergrast

Living: Liberty at Ann Mashburn.

2011-07-20T11:56:00.004-04:00

Living: Royal Dutch Gazelle, since 1892,

the oldest bicycle in the Netherlands.

Most exciting feature: the wheel

dynamo powered headlamp.

2011-07-19T11:43:00.004-04:00

Living: Glorious moss + perfect type

at North Nibley, Gloucestershire.

Photographs by Tony Brook.

2011-07-18T10:10:00.005-04:00

Living: Today in North Nibley, Glos.

From our Cotswold correspondent.

2011-07-14T12:43:00.003-04:00

Hoping: Thanks for bringing back the Beetle,

the Mini and the Fiat 500. Now can we have the 2CV?

Exactly as was is preferable, merci beaucoup.

Via Wayne Pate.

2011-07-13T12:54:00.002-04:00

Living: Ways to cool the house, part 2.

Willow and Middagh Streets, Brooklyn.

2011-07-12T10:46:00.004-04:00

Living: Ways to cool the house, part 1.

Willow Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY.

2011-07-11T07:27:00.002-04:00

Living: Shepherd with his Dogs (+ nice coat),

photograph by Rudolf Balogh, Hortobagáy, c. 1930.

Hungarian Photography in the C20th at the RA.

2011-07-08T21:46:00.007-04:00

"If what you require is not in the

window then please come in and ask!!!

Thank you!!!"

Living: Tom Towers Tasty Cheese

Shop, est 1949, Lytham Square, Lancashire.

From our correspondent in the North.

Photographs by Tony Brook.

2011-07-07T07:51:00.002-04:00

Living: The mini rake, at

Ancient Industries UK.

2011-07-06T07:40:00.001-04:00

Living: The Ancient Industries Summer

Escape list is launched with original editions

of The Country Wife by Dorothy Van Doren,

published in 1950 and I Capture the Castle

by Dodie Smith, published in 1949.

2011-07-05T08:27:00.004-04:00

Living: Stanley Spencer and the English Garden,

at Compton Veney, via The Persephone Post.

Cottages at Burghclere (detail), 1927-1930.

2011-06-30T21:52:00.003-04:00

Living: Flower trug. Split wood replaced by

ply after WWII, hence the name Modern Trugs.

(Sorry, not modern enough to have a website).

Found at Cottesbrooke by News From Nowhere.

2011-06-29T16:02:00.003-04:00

Living: Sneeboer, tools forged

by hand since Granddad Sneeboer

founded the company in Holland, 1913.

Photographed at the Cottesbrooke Plant

Finders Fair by News From Nowhere.

2011-06-28T15:09:00.006-04:00

Unearthed: The long tapered perennial spade,

once as common as muck. Available at Sneeboer,

Holland. Photograph by News From Nowhere.

2011-06-26T19:27:00.004-04:00

Living: Pocket squares

at Ede & Ravenscroft,

founded 1689.