Shopping ‘
Products, fashion and style
Retro v'rus
With a plethora of shops selling 60s and 70s objects d’art, we look at the
cream of the crop. Words: Paul Dale
ow often has this happened to you'.’ You are standing
in a charity shop on a wet Saturday afternoon
eyeing up an unpriced clear plastic 60s lampshade. dreaming of turning your lounge into a set from the film The Ice Storm: ‘l-low much is that please'." you ask the shop assistant. ‘That‘s £253 they reply. ’llow come it's so expensive." you ponder. ‘()h. I‘m sorry but we had to put up all the prices because the bloke from the retro antique shop round the corner keeps buying everything up. then putting it in the window for three times the price and it‘s really beginning to piss us off.’
Fair enough. It seems the days of falling upon a nice 'l‘retchikoff print. an early piece of (‘onran frippery or a (‘hance Brothers glass fallen-hunky are well and truly over. We now seem to be in the arena of the clean-up merchants who have sacked and pillaged every car-boot sale and Sunday bazaar in the country (and many abroad —- you may have noticed a proliferation of Kiwiana foibles in many antique shops) to bring an all-too-willing nation of shoppers the re-heated delights that used to litter family homes in the last four decades of the 20m century.
This. of course. has long been the case down there in London village. where an original angle-poise lamp now fetches the price of a quick snack at the Ivy. Here in Scotland we are slightly further down the consumerist evolutionary scale. but there now seems to be some strong competition for the spare shekels of the moneyed. retro— design conscious public.
Retro Interiors (St Mary‘s Street. lidinburgh. 0131 558 9090) is one of the older war-horses in the capital. It sells an
1 ‘2 THE LIST 14-78 Nov 700?.
impressive amount of collectibles and furnishings. a lot nearly mint and some deadstock. lts prices do seem steep at first. but everything it seems is negotiable. The Bachelor Pad (St Stephen‘s Street. Edinburgh. 0131 226 6355) is more for your upmarket single male hipster. hence the name. It contains well-picked original and reproduction 6()s furnishings. Less eclectic than most. taste and refinement come at a fairly heavy premium here. The newest on the block in lidinburgh is Retrobillia (liast Norton Place. Edinburgh. (H31 661 3939). a tiny half-way house for the
junior collector. There is a nice assortment of
cruet sets and other desirable pottery here. Prices are reasonable and sensibly judged.
ln Glasgow. if you‘re worth your salt you'll take a wander down the Barras. but also check out Felix & Oscar (De (‘ourcy‘s Arcade. (‘resswell Lane. 0141 33‘) ()269) which contains a few gems among its many
shopping@list.co.uk
Let’s go back: the demand for retro
design has never
been greater
The days of falling upon an early piece of Conran frippery
pearls. Retro (Otago Street. 0141 339 8770), are well and
however. is your best bet. Set among more conservative antique shops off Great Western Road. this contains some exceptional pieces of Burbmwlla-style funky paraphernalia at interesting prices. It even sells a line selection of fabulous curtains and bed linen that would only look good on a waterbed.
Alternatively you could find some corner of these isles that has been left untouched by any economic boom (like. say. Cardiff) and rifle through the possessions-sales of the recently dead. then pay for the freight back across the border. The cost would be fairly comparable.
truly over