Vintage Travel Posters

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My hometown pride & love of 50's design come together in my Bangor Railway Travel Poster.

 I picked this reproduction print up from Bangor's Heritage Centre.
It's one of a few prints available of the town, along with one of neighbouring Ballyholme.

 Vintage travel advertisments steer toward the retro side of kitsch, rather than it's tackiness.
Nostalgia plays heavily, even for folks like me who weren't around when these ads had pride of place in stations around the country.

 Marks and Spencers used the vintage travel poster design strongly in it's anniversary campaign this year. Their picnic ads & classic soda bottles are good examples.

 Amongst kitsch collectors, retro skiing holiday & cable car travel posters are favourites.
British seaside holiday versions cater to the tackier side of the genre.

 I recently was given a box full of postcards of these fantastic adverts by Twitter pal @herrbenz Looking forward to using them for decoration somewhere soon!

Claire

Welcome to the World of Tomorrow!

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The Home of TOMORROW!
Rocket ships & robot butlers, all this and more at any 19th centuary expo or world's fair.

 The memrobilia from these events can be picked up on eBay, myself I have a snowglobe & ashtray, but want a silk scarf badly!

 It was the time man was looking towards space travel & modern ways of living.

 Where the kitsch lies is in how misguided many of the potential inventions and ideas were.
Along side that the 'Jetsons' style design of the print & souvenirs, it makes for very cool kitsch.

 Another fledgling collection below are my snowglobes.
Purest tack.

Claire

Your home is your palace

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Kitsch is all about having ideas above your station. True kitsch comes from the tiny council house adorned with dozens of china dolls, or a 2 bedroom bungalow with a set of huge ornamental gates.
Kitsch is when you try to decorate nicely, but it just doesn't suit the surroundings.

 We live in a small ex-holiday cottage down near the sea, in a little lane surrounded by bigger, grander houses. It's my dream home.

 Kitsch is tricky to do on a large scale. It's all about over decoration & clutter, and on a larger scale, like in hip clothing stores, it can look too over dressed.

 My dream of having, what most people would call a weird house, has always been around, but when I first moved out to flat share with @theronster, I could finally make a room my own.

 One of the first pieces I bought back then was a flamingo pink cuckoo clock from German eBay.
Usually I steer away from modern takes on kitsch, the urban outfitters approach to the genre, but I just WANTED this ugly little clock.

  From there the multicoloured, shiny, animal print nightmare began!

Claire

My lovely new Coffee Table

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I only drink coffee once a week, Saturday morning if you're wondering, but that certainly doesn't detract from the notion that every kitsch housewife would be ashamed not to have one of those new-fangled Coffee Tables.

 You remember them. Most likely you cracked your shins off them manys a time, or were told off for putting your feet up on one as a child.

 Once you have your perfect coffee table, you need to get yourself some coffee table books.

 For decades these large, cumbersome books have been used simply to make a statement about yourself. Like tattoos for the home, you can show off to guests your keen interest in architecture, safari holidays or swedish wardrobe making with the latest tome.

 Coffee tables, pretty useless interior items designed for showing off. Just the sort of furniture I like.

 Claire

Claire

The Creepy Kids of Dallas Simpson

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One of the easiest ways to do Bad Taste Kitsch Decor, is to rummage at car boot sales, or in charity shops, for some mass produced 60s & 70s art.

 Key offenders are J H Lynch & Tretchikoff, who I will blog about in coming weeks, but I'd like to start with Dallas Simpson's work.

 You can pick up his work on eBay,but where tacky art is concerned, I find it more satisfying to pick up your collection 'by hand' from charity shops.

 You'll recognise his work easily. The large eyed, sombre looking gypsy children that haunt your nightmares.

 I have gathered up a number of these creepy little darlings over the past three years & they have residence in my dining room, on their very own Wall of Woe.

 These paintings are sometimes remembered for urban legend, if one falls off your wall, the house will burn down, amongst other cheery tales.

 To kitsch up a room you can't go wrong with one or two of these maudlin monsters, whap some fairy lights round them & you've got instant tacky treasures.

Claire