The Thrifting Anthropologist

Classic 1930s Deco Living Room Art Deco: 1920s-1940s Disclaimer number 3: this 3 part series is to help folks who want to know what exactly is the difference between the big 3, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. It is by no means a deep scholarly dissertation. You can hit the internet and dive down any part of that rabbit hole you fancy. This is my overview. Max La Vernier cast bronze 1930, classic Deco style Art Deco design exploded on the scene in a big way Paris at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels.   Art Deco is much easier to remember and pronounce but no matter how you say it, that was the beginning of the modern age of design. It was celebrating a new age of posh for all, post-World War I, taking full advantage of materials and mass produced high end goods and handmade luxury goods. Marketing could be tied to advertising on the new medium of radio and in magazines and print; mass marketing was now a thing. N...

An art nouveau exterior I shot in Paris, Yes, it's an apartment building Art Nouveau:   1880s until about 1912 Disclaimer: This 3 part series is simply an effort to help those who want to know the difference between three of the major art movements of the  late 19th and early 20 th century, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, in a nutshell. Lots of reading available out there for those want to know more. To Keep them straight A N D, Arts and   Crafts, Art NOUVEAU, and Art DECO. A romantic Nouveau interior Art Nouveau rose out of, and in some instances, at the same time the Arts and Crafts movement. Designers, architects, artists and artisans resonated to the free and extravagant movements of nature found in sinuous leaves, “whiplash curves”, birds, flower and feathers. Vican deco jewelry Art Nouveau artists and designers were looking for a new way to join art and design in a new vocabulary of making. Art Nouveau was romantic, and look...

Teco Pot, with a simple form and matte glaze This topic is so gigantic I've broken it into three parts and here's a handy remembering device to keep these styles straight:( Please note, this is not an all encompassing article on a massive and well-known subject, it's a peek through through a keyhole for those who are not experts but would like to know more.) A=Arts and Crafts N=Art NOUVEAU D=Art DECO The Arts and Crafts Movement encompassed the years 1880-1920, and it's designs and pieces  are still widely sought after. This movement was as much about changing society as it was about changing interior design and leaving the heavy over stuffed, over decorated Victorians behind. Arts and Crafts was intended to be a criticism of industrial society and what its founders perceived as cheap, mechanized soulless pieces churned out of factories and vastly over-decorated. The Victorian public was enamored of the new access to cheap quickly fabricated goods,...

Easter basket postcard, circa 1900 Long before Christianity celebrated Easter, and with it the spring equinox, it was a pagan celebration in almost every culture. As Christianity moved from the east to the west, it was easier for the church to rearrange their calendar to fit traditions that might date back a thousand years than to force new religious traditions and beliefs on a resistant populace.  Postcards! The perfect Easter collectible. This one with the rabbit and his eggs. Originally a celebration of the equinox, signaling a new beginning to the year of growing things and the end of winter, the holiday became what we now celebrate as Easter.   Baskets would have been used to transport offerings from one place to another, or to shared meals, or just as a means of moving goods. wicker and grass baskets are after all lightweight and easier to carry and make than either clay or wood. They  resemble nests in their shape and they are made of...

Here it is almost the holidays again. If Halloween is in the rear view mirror, Christmas is coming head on at 90 miles an hour. In deciding what to write for the holiday and then some, blog, I  looked up Holidays that fall in November, December and stretching into January.  Who knew there were so many celebrations from so many spiritual belief backgrounds in the winter season? No wonder we say Happy Holidays, Christmas just covers one of them! I found: November 7th, Diwali, the Festival of Lights, a Hindu holiday;  November 21st, is the Prophet's birthday, a Muslim holiday; Hanukkah, December 3rd to the 10th, a Jewish holiday; December 21st, the winter Solstice; Christmas, December 25th, a Christian holiday; December 26th, to January 1st,  Kwanzaa, an African American holiday. My personal favorite will always be Saint Nicholas Day, December 6th. It has deep joyful roots in my life going back to my childhood as a California kid, age 8, transported to ...

A set of Wondelier bowls, the first big Tupperware success from the late 1940's-early 1950's Way back in 1938, Earl Tupper figured out a new way to store food, in plastic. His stuff was a hard uphill slog to success until Brownie Wise fell in love with a piece of Tupperware and went to work for Tupper in 1946 and Tupperware was truly launched. In 1946, the world was changing fast, the war was over and women were looking for new products as the atomic age approached. Enter Brownie's concept of the Tupperware “Party”, the great grandma of direct marketing that is still working today with a Tupperware party taking place every two seconds around the world.  Extremely collectable 1960s Tupperware salt and pepper set The company is now headquartered in Orlando, Florida and still coming up with new products. One of their strengths has always been the ability to figure out what the market needs and then respond to it quickly. First, they brought unbreakable food...

Cars mean vacations for the middle class and lots of luggage Luggage as we know it today, has only been around since the end of the 19 th century, right about 1890. Before that if you went on a long trip it was a major undertaking, requiring a heavy metal bound trunk which was wood and waterproofed and required a couple of people to move it, which meant you were probably wealthy and planning on more than an overnight jaunt. This is what a $22,000 Louis Vuitton 1890's trunk looks like T hose who were not rich and had to travel more than a few miles, most likely went in a horse drawn stage coach (called a stage coach because the trip was accomplished in stages and horses had to be swapped for fresh ones, restrooms had to be used, food had to be procured and lodging for the night had to be arranged). Stage coach passengers had wooden boxes, baskets or soft sided bags made of rug material called guess what? Carpet bags.  Stage coaches vanished with the advent of ...