Second-hand Sleuth

For the love of kitsch

Take one vintage condo, add assorted '50s-era stuff,
and mix with a sense of humour

By Jo-Ann Dodds Toronto Star
ANDREW STAWICK/TORONTO STAR
LOOKING BACK: Graphic Designer and illustrator Kate Parkinson has filled her apartment with some '50s classics and lots of kitsch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate Parkinson is addicted to kitsch.

She has stocked her condo with a '50s-era collection of china figurines, lamps of questionable taste, toys and furniture reproductions, when she couldn't find or afford the real thing.

A graphic designer and illustrator, as well as world traveller who's versed in Spanish, Kate is an avid collector of some pretty funny stuff.

There's the Miss Cutie Pie china, made by the Japan-based Napco china company. Or take the Tomato Head string holders, which kept '40s and '50s cooks supplied with string for tying up roasts or securing wax paper around sandwiches or bowls. Kate also has assorted decorative china cups called Chef With Fly, which feature a relief fly on a hapless chef's forehead.
ANDREW STAWICKI/TORONTO STAR
PLAYFUL STUFF: A Web site was also the source for the ready made cover for her butterfly chair, as well as cushion covers gracing her sofa.

As if that wasn't unappetizing enough, in her kitchen, she has hung a laminated recipe from an old magazine with an unpleasant jellied salad of peas, meat, eggs, and other substances, which the ad proudly proclaims are fashioned entirely from ``items in cans.''

Kate has always had a wicked sense of humour, which marked her as a kindred spirit some years ago when we were both attending a computer class. While exploring the Internet, I was wondering aloud what would happen if we typed in the word ``mouse.''

That led us to Mice Unlimited, which will ship freeze-dried or vacuum-packed mice to any address in the world. Our discovery sent both of us into hysterics and managed to disrupt the class and make us fast friends.

After Kate read a few of my columns, she sent me some pictures of her condo, which she cohabits with Chico, the chinchilla, and Catmandu, the cat, along with her various and sundry collections.

The condo itself was built in 1937, and luckily Kate has the wonderful old sink and cupboards. Her reproduction '50s turquoise dinette set matches the painted cupboards perfectly and goes well with her black-and-white-checkered tile floor.

Kate explained that most of her collections come from auctions on the eBay Web site. Another site on the Internet was the source for some incredible reproduction '50s bark cloth. (Anyone looking for the rough-textured curtains and upholstery material with wonderful atomic bursts and lush Hawaiian ferns, the hallmark of '40s and '50s fabrics, should check out http://www.melinamade.com.)

Kate also has a weakness for Lefton spaghetti poodles. Lefton is a Japanese company that produces wonderful pouty-faced women's head vases from the '50s as well as the poodles. ``Spaghetti'' refers to the china rendering of their fur. And her assortment of '50s lamps - a bright lemon-yellow parrot, for example - brought tears to my eyes.
ANDREW STAWICKI/TORONTO STAR
PLAYFUL STUFF: Japanese-made Miss Cutie Pie china smiles from a shelf in Kate Parkinson's condo apartment. She purchased many items in her collections over the Internet.

Sitting on the Naugahyde diner chairs in Kate's kitchen, we were talking about our private school days with its built-in prejudices, suddenly realized that we were finishing school rejects. She confessed that her mother is very concerned about her daughter's passion for things of off-beat taste.

Kate has kept to the '50s theme throughout the apartment. In her living room, a pink rotary-dial phone - an eBay score - reposes ``tastefully'' on its ``fone'' table beside the repro Saarinen pedestal chair and table.

We discussed china. Her favourite set is Homemaker China by Enid Seeney, an English designer. Homemaker China is decorated with black and white renditions of '50s tripod lights, boomerang tables and other furniture. Kate wistfully confided that she would love to actually own the objects featured on the china.

Another set of china that Kate collects is ``Les Etoiles,'' a French version of ``Star burst,'' a china pattern of the British Midwinter Pottery concern. The two patterns are so similar that even seasoned collectors have confused the two.

What makes Kate's condo so much fun, is the care and attention she lavishes on her collections. She knows it's vital to possess reference books, which explain the era and discuss its design, and the more her collections grow, the more she is learning.

While Kate's 63-year-old condo building proved an ideal setting for her furniture and knick-knacks, these items from an era when people were anxious to shed the past look equally at home in more modern settings.

But where do you start if you have a latent longing for things from the '50s but haven't started collecting yet?

Both Kate and I have found that the eBay online auction is a good place to start the quest.

Make a list of the china, furniture and designers of interest to you. Check out eBay to see what things are going for. Bookmark certain auctions to see if you can afford the going rate for the items you're looking for.

If prices are sky-high - and some of them are - you have other options. Consider well-made reproductions, which can sometimes be better than a second-rate original.

If you're technically challenged or simply want to see items in a non-virtual way, here's a list of local places where you can indulge your lust for tomato string holders, pink phones, Lefton head vases, bakelite-handled cutlery and radios, chrome juicers and '50s lamps.

  • Andrea Goble of Now 'N' Then Colletibleshas an outstanding booth at Harbourfront Antique Market, 390 Queens Quay, (416) 598-9449. She stocks every wonderful '50s and '40s gadget your heart will desire and having been a many time repeat customer, her prices are reasonable.
  • Metro Retro, 715 Queen St. W. (416) 504-1651, sells pyrex, vintage cookbooks, zany glassware as well as the odd stereo and fun lamps as well as retro fones.
  • Locomotion on 1122 Queen St. E., (416) 778-8499. Anthony Caria sells fabulous chrome '50s kitchen ware and lamps.
  • Courage My love on 14 Kensington Ave. (416) 979-1992. Pat Roy and Stewart Scriver sell an outstanding collection of '50s lamps at reasonable prices as well as fun '50s glassware and vintage clothing if you decide you want to dress the part.
  • Marilyn Dunphy at the St. Lawrence Market, known as the ``Linen Lady,'' at (416) 588-4760 and Barbara Griffin at Ephemera Heirlooms , (416) 693-9050, at the St. Lawrence Market for '40s and '50s vintage fabrics.
  • For '50s chenille bedspreads, try Jan Marriott and Karen Poce at the north end of the St. Lawrence Market.
  • John Creedon and Tom Andrew, as well as Kelly Stapleton, at the St. Lawrence Market for '40s and '50s collectibles.
  • Another great store is the Pineapple Room on 2 Kensington Ave. at (416) 340-7859 for great clothing, fabrics and collectibles.
  • Danny at Recycled Treasures at (416) 466-6881 for eclectic '40s and '50s items at reasonable prices.

    And for vintage Knoll furniture pieces, check out Joe Graafmans at Zig Zag on 1107 Queen St. E., (416) 778-6495 as well as Tere Ouellette at Eye Spy on 1100 Queen St. E. at (416) 461-4061. Both these vendors deal with beautifully designed '40s and '50s high-end furniture and glass.

    Now, a lot of you in the west end of Toronto will no doubt be a little steamed by this hardly exhaustive list.

    In the next few months, I will be wending my way westward and will feature second-hand design stores in that part of the city. I aim to compile a comprehensive list of stores and what they specialize in by the end of the year.

    So there you have it. I hope this list will be of help to those of you who cannot imagine decorating in good taste but will follow your heart and march to the beat of an eccentric drummer.

    Enough of understated wood, sisal and minimalism. Three cheers for the end of the '90s. Bring back kitsch.

Jo-Ann Dodds is a designer in The Star's art department. Write to her c/o Condo Living, The Star, One Yonge St., Toronto, Ont., M5E 1E6,. Include your name, address and phone number. Her column appears every other week.

Reproduced with permission - the Toronto Star Syndicate