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Friday, June 24, 2011

For the animal lover

Mid-century consumers seemed to have an affinity for animals, and many designers of the day made it possible for them to incorporate that theme into their surroundings. From the iconic poodle skirt to the Eames house bird, animals showed up everywhere...wall plaques, trivets, figurines, textiles, glass pieces and more.  Popular animals were Siamese cats, fish and owls. Italian pottery makers also favored horses, rams and bulls.

Here are a few examples of stylized animal decor that graced mid-century homes, as well as some from my own home.

Arthur Umanoff bull for Raymor
modcats.com
Roselane cat
hydroponicsonline.com
Dansk bear
replacements.com
Roe,  unknown maker
retrotogo.com
Teak hedgehog, unknown maker
raraforma.com

Eames elephant
julesseltzer.com

Blenko cat by Wayne Husted
blenkomuseum.org

Raymor ram
petpeoplesplace.com

Eames house bird
dwr.com

California Pottery Jaru owls
atomicspacejunk.com
My horse design Castor Cooper pewter vase

My McCoy Unipet bowl

My small pewter dishes with horse handles

9 comments:

  1. wow arent they cute...i have known the mid century cat, and the owl.,rest...i dint..thank u for sharing dana

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  2. I love these! The curvy lines are great - the stylized animals remind me of the cat print I bought (and recently blogged about). No surprise, I like the cat in the 2nd pic, and also the deer in the 4th. I am so happy you have a McCoy bowl, too. I'm glad you kept one. We're bowl buddies!

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  3. @Tanya: I just scored two more Unipet bowls for the store. The first ones we got went fast, and I've been keeping a lookout for a good price on some more.

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  4. @Sudha: I'm not a big fan of some of the more cartoonish looking animal objects from the 50s and 60s. They're a little to kitschy for me, but I loved the elongated, stylized versions.

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  5. Love the little hedgehog. The folks over at Raraforma have such a good eye.

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  6. I absolutely love MCM animal designs.....especially cats and birds. I love the Blenko cat! I've never seen anything like it. I would take any of these, they're all great.

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  7. There's a Blenko seller in town who tells everyone he has a rare Blenko Van Gogh cat. It's missing an ear.

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  8. @Rhan: I agree. I may be partial to birds, horses and fish, but I'd take any of these.

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  9. Love both the cat figurines... !!

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