21st August - New Website and Mantiquexplorer

Well... the new website has been very warmly received and we are chuffed to bits!  If you haven't seen it yet then pop on over to have a look! www.vintagexplorer.co.uk.

Issue 11 is selling very fast and we've had lots of comments about it.  It's a 'man' issue so if you want to see what all the fuss is about then nip over to our website to grab a copy before it's too late!

Here are some sneaky tasters...

We're also excited about the launch on Mantiquexplorer this week.  We have always made sure that we cover a wide range of subjects and we have a large percentage of male readers and have catered for them from our very first issue.  Mantiquexplorer is an extension of that.  Visit the website on Friday to see more - www.mantiquexplorer.co.uk.

We're going to be out and about in the next few weeks.  We will be at The Vintage Bazaar in Devizes. Wiltshire on 31st August, and we will also be at the HUGE new fair at The Hop Farm in Kent.  As one of the sponsors, we will be there with the magazine and also selling a range of top notch vintage stock. For details - http://www.bentleysfairs.co.uk/

Apart from that, we've been enjoying the lovely summer here at VEHQ with plenty of vintage fans to keep the office cool. Long may this weather continue.

See you again soon!

25th July 2013 - Bit Rubbish at Blogging

OK.  Hands Up.  We haven't blogged in a while.  But that's because we've been busy you see.

We spend a lot of time looking for just the right stories that we know you will love.  We're proud of our magazine and take time to make sure we love it so that you will too.

We've also been very busy working on a new website which is being launched at the end of July, this time with it's own shop so you don't have to go via eBay anymore.  It's been a long time coming but it will be so worth it.

We've also been working on a few other things but we can't tell you about those just yet.  Well - we could but then we'd have to kill you.  So until we update next week, this blog will self destruct in 3...2...1...

30th May 2013 - Vintagexplorer goes Steampunk

Well, the day of the Steampunk Extravaganza finally arrived so we all trooped off to The Cheese & Grain in Frome, Somerset, for a day of Jules-Verne-style selling.

We arrived early, and had finished before most of the other stallholders arrived and in true VE team style, we were all sitting eating our pre-ordered full English breakfast whilst everyone else was frantically setting up their stalls!  We like our food.

Without blowing our own trumpet (much), our stall looked brilliant.  The display looked fantastic and interesting and was full to the brim with genuine old stuff.  We like making stuff and it seemed that the eager steampunkers did too!  All sorts of boxes full of cogs, keys, metal bits, gauges, clock parts and medical equipment were flying off the table as people had all sorts of exciting ideas on what to do with them all!

The costumes were amazing and the characters that we met were brilliant and it was really great fun!  We particularly liked the guy selling 'Gentlemans Stiffner' and the 'Tea Duelling'.

We also took two boxes of magazines that were greedily snapped up by the assembled crowd of steampunkers.

 

Our "mad professor" desk drew quite a crowd.

 

The VE Team - and random man with beard ( in the middle...)

 

Old film reels, boxes of keys, medical equipment, old rulers, all sorts of interesting stuff!

 

There were some great outfits and the atmosphere was really great.

We would definitely do it again!

14th May 2013 - Modern Shows - Lords

We've just about recovered from the Midcentury Modern show at the weekend.  It's hard work but it was brilliant.  We stayed in a fantastic apartment near Canary Wharf too, which was lovely - once we eventually found it.  Let's just say the SatNav almost went straight out of the window...

Lords was full to the brim of the very best of Midcentury furniture, art and accessories.  

Woo fell in love with a Hans Wegner chair or 3 and both Karyn and Woo spent considerable time looking at the beautiful modernist jewellery. 

Pretty much everyone fell in love with our 50's pinball coffee table which was snapped up by a very happy man indeed.  

The displays were all fantastic and we particularly liked Vintage Unit's stand, which looked great.

It was extremely busy and even Mary Portas turned up for a wander round.

A good day was had by all so thanks to Petra and Lucy who organised it so well as usual.  Roll on Dulwich in December.

26th April 2013 - News from VEHQ

Well, we've been a bit busy lately so sorry for not blogging much last week.

This week we've been up to all sorts of stuff.

Firstly we started having a clear out and tidy up of the unit here at VEHQ.  You know when you start something and then really wish you hadn't?  Well that...

Anyway - we will get there.  We've started sticking stuff up on our Ebay shop so have a look.  Our favourite is this genuine vintage American pig mailbox.  We think it'd make a great breadbin.

Apart from that, the team have all been up to various things this week.

Woo, is the resident Scandinavian crime nerd and was embarassingly excited to go off to London on Monday to see the Nordic Noir UK premiere of the new Wallander film up in Leicester Square, which was followed by a Q&A by the great Wallander himself Krister Henricksson.  Yeah - we don't really know who is he either, but to Woo it was a big deal.  She showed us photos and everything.  Here's one:

This weekend Karyn and Jez are taking some amazing 1950's Doctors desks up to London to a film studio where they are being used as part of a new TV series. Rubbing shoulders with the stars - that's how we roll.


And Alan, well - he likes to live a vintage life at home.  So much so that for the last year he actually hasn't had a TV.  After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, he has finally crumbled and been dragged into the 21st Century and got himself a new telly and all satellited (not sure that's a word)  and broadbanded up.  Now, all he does is moan about the adverts.  We preferred it when he didn't have a telly.

We will be getting ready for this in the next two weeks, so it will be all go here, as well as working on the June/July issue of Vintagexplorer.

Anyway, whatever you are doing this weekend - have a great one.

17th April 2013 - A Busy Weekend.

Following the rather exotic trip to northern Europe last week, we are going to be nearer to home this week, in the West Country where we are based.

On Saturday we will be going to the Vintage Bazaar in Frome.  Held at the Cheese and Grain, the Vintage Bazaar is incredibly popular and has some of the very best vintage dealers around as well as a few celebrity customers on occasion!  Well worth a visit if you can.  You can pick up a copy of Vintagexplorer there too.

On Sunday we are paying a flying visit to the Bath Fashion Festival at Green Park Station.  Vintage fashion galore!

Apparently the weather is going to be great so whatever you are up to this weekend - have a good one.  

4th April 2013 - Fun Fun Fun on The Autobahn.....

This weekend we have a great trip planned to pick up some exciting stuff.

Karyn and Jez are heading off at some stupid hour in the morning to get to Folkestone by 8am for the Eurostar, then driving to Dusseldorf.  This will be followed by Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Pforzheim and then home with a van laden with goodies !.  Karyn will be tweeting en route so make sure you follow us on Twitter to see what she gets up to, which will no doubt include copious amounts of dirty pork and Sauerkraut products.  This is what they will be listening to in the van...

Even though the wind at the moment could freeze the balls off a brass monkey, we're thinking ahead to our June/July issue, and sunnier times.  At our meeting this afternoon we discussed the possibility of having a Burlesque article and Alan immediately offered to work on this, as well as helpfully suggesting a swimwear feature whilst wistfully reminiscing about Baywatch.  It's tough for him isn't it?

We are also still preparing for the Steampunk Fair in May.  Woo is getting far more excited than is healthy planning her outfit.  In fact she is more excited about that than the actual manning of the stall.  We've heard mention of 'Highwayman's coat' and 'Top Hat'.  We might pretend we don't know her.

Jez is planning on wearing his vintage Jeantet Aviators as a wannabe Sopwith Camel pilot - classy.

Anyway - enjoy your weekend whatever you are up to!

28th March 2013 - Spring!

Spring is (sort of) in the air.  And we've got a spring in our step (see what I did there..?) because the latest issue came back from the printers and we LOVE it.  We are particularly proud of the cover. How cool is that guy?

We're also busy planning a few events that we have coming up.  The first one is the Midcentury Show at Lords on 13th May 2013.  Molecula and Vintagexplorer will be taking a stand and have some fantastic pieces of furniture.

We are also going to be at The Steampunk Extravaganza in Frome on May 18th and we have some great stuff to take to that.  We've been doing it for fun really.  Any excuse to make things and dress up basically.

Jez has been making stuff with all sorts of cogs and old lamps.  He picked up this brilliant 'gun' which the boys have enjoyed playing with...

 

BUT before then, there is a trip to Germany to go on the hunt for furniture and probably a trip to the largest annual flea market in Germany in Pforzheim.  No doubt the van will come back crammed with some amazing finds - then we just have to find some room to put it all...

Anyway - whatever you are up to this Easter Weekend then have a good time and try not to eat too much chocolate.  

26th March 2013 - Issue 9 - Hot off the press!

Issue 9 has literally just come back from the printer and will be sent out tomorrow.  If you want to buy a copy then head on over to our shop here.


It's a great issue with some fabulous articles:

Vintage Fashion Labels.
A Passion for Pastoe
Figgjo Flint
France and Søn
Demob Snappy
London Underground Posters

Get your copy now!

20th March 2013 - A Very Modern Weekend.

Well - we are back.

Picture a foggy, rainy Sunday morning in London. It's Midcentury Modern and Karyn, Jez and Woo were there, slaving away whilst Alan was back at the office frantically working on the April/May issue as deadline looms.  We're very hardworking here at VE.  It's why we like to reward ourselves once a week with Scotch Eggs from one of the best butchers around.  But anyway....back to the story.

If you like Midcentury, then it's like being let loose in a huge sweetshop.  But not just any old sweets. The very best sweets you can buy.  Enough Danish sideboards to dribble over for a year, chairs, sofas, beautiful chests of drawers, glass, ceramics and, Karyn and Woo's favourite - silver modernist jewellery.  After trying on several amazing Bjorn Weckstrom rings, it was all hands on deck to help the customers as they flocked through the door.

People were going crazy for our desk, which we could have sold ten times over, and in fact, the popularity has spurred on a trip to Germany to go desk hunting.  This is the desk that caused the excitement - an amazing Maquet steel doctor's desk from Germany - 1950's, in excellent condition.

If your craving for desks is still keen then we still have a couple available on the website.  A lovely 1940's Pohlschroder Bauhaus desk and a fully restored 1940s/50s "Art Metal" desk.

This time around we had a huge selection of beautiful smoked Czech glass, including a fantastic decanter and 8 glasses, sold to a very happy customer.

The Gerald Benney stainless steel and glass serving trays were also popular and didn't hang around long!  Danish stainless steel is also always popular, with salt and pepper pots being a good seller.

The venue of Dulwich College lends itself really well to midcentury style too.  Here is a photograph from the gallery into the main hall.

The nexy Midcentury Modern show we will be at will be Lords in May.  Come along and see us.  We also are working on a very exciting plan for a show, which will involve going to Europe, but more on that another time.

The April/May magazine is hurtling towards the finish line and will be sent out next week to all you lucky subscribers.  We have some fantastic articles on France & Søn, Figgjo Flint, Pastoe, 1940s men's clothing and vintage fashion labels.  So if you haven't already - then why not subscribe?  Just £21 for 6 issues. 

More blogging later, in the meantime don't forget you can find us on FaceBook and Twitter too!

14th March 2013 - Midcentury Mayhem!

This weekend we are going to the Midcentury Show in Dulwich.

Vintagexplorer in conjunction with Molecula will be taking a stand and have some fantastic midcentury furniture and accessories.

We will be there enjoying the ambience of Dulwich College, dribbling over the gorgeous furniture and hopefully going home with an emptier van in the evening.

If midcentury is your thing then it's well worth a visit as the standard really is top notch.

I'll be taking plenty of pictures and sharing them with you, so why not follow us on Twitter and Facebook?

Hope you have some great vintage things planned for the weekend?  Why not let us know what you are up to?

Woo

5th March 2013 - Dapper Dudes

Paul Stewart is suited and booted as usual for his regular 'men only' piece for VE's Mantiques section. And this time around he's demob-happy!

How will you be celebrating VE Day? No, not the day when you rush to seek out Britain's favourite magazine. May 8th is the 68th anniversary of Victory in Europe day. When, after six long years, the people of Britain no longer had to fear invasion or bombing - no wonder there was jitterbugging in the streets!

Why this isn't recognised as a public holiday is still hotly debated up and down the teashops of England. So, with spring approaching and the tidal wave of era-themed events start to appear in our inboxes and in lifestyle magazines with a penchant for the past, I think it's time to take a closer look at the 1940s, how a chap then made himself look sharp out of uniform - and how you can too.

Paul Stewart

Covering all aspects of being a dapper gent, it's a great article.  Next issue is out just before Easter.

1st March 2013 - Full Steampunk Ahead

Today, we've been getting all 'mad professor' in preparation for the Steampunk Extravaganza at the Cheese and Grain in Frome.

It's not until May but we are very excited about it, and have, in fact booked 2 tables!

Jez has been in the workshop, covered in cogs, nuts and bolts and all sorts of stuff and is currently working on his Victorian crazy inventors desk..........

We've got chemistry equipment, fans, crazy lamps and we will also be having boxes of bits for people to rummage through to steampunk their own stuff.

Steampunk sits between genres really.  It is heavily based on Victoriana but with a modern bent.  Is it 'vintage'? - well not really but it is very influenced by the past.

In fact Prada's last men's collection wasn't just nodding at steampunk, it was whole heartedly shaking it's entire body!  Have a look at this picture to see what we mean...

We'll be bringing you more news as we progress into the world of steampunk.

26th February 2013 - Sunday Shining

Sunday.

It was a cold, sleety day and the VE crew were out at the crack of dawn, ready to rummage at the Shepton Mallet Flea.  Well - that's not entirely true - only half of us were - but you get the idea.

On the agenda was to look for 'stuff' which can be used to make some quirky Steampunk things which we will tell you about at a later date.  We're quite excited about it. Anyway - we found some interesting bits and pieces...

These cogs and the guage have a real treat instore for them! Mix in a few old sewing machine parts and a real work of art will emerge.  That's what Jez says anyway.

 

 

A gigantic clock in excellent condition was also found - great!  

 

A pair of Hermann Miller LAR Eames chairs in need of quite a bit of TLC - but hey - they'll be fabulous when they're finished.

 

And finally - not vintage, but in a vintage style, a nice length of Sanderson's 'Dandelion Clocks' fabric in slate colourway. 

 

The next thing we are at will be the Midcentury Modern Show in Dulwich which will be on Sunday 17th March.  If you want to come and dribble over some Danish teak then it's the place to be.  We'll be there with some amazing furniture and accessories, as well as the magazine.

18th February 2013 - Welcome!

We admit, we've been pretty rubbish at blogging in the past, so we have resolved to be much better from now on!

We've decided to use the blog to tell you not only about the magazine, but also what we all get up to when we're not working!

We all love old stuff.  It could be furniture, it could be textiles, it could be old specimen bottles with all sorts of weirdness inside...........

All of us go here and there searching out things we love, and we thought we'd share it with you.

This weekend, Karyn went to London and saw The 39 Steps, as well as taking in Gordon's Wine Bar following an article in Issue 8.  She also went to the Hunterian Museum in London to see bizarre things in jars...

Alan went fossil hunting and found a dinosaur bone and an ammonite which is now displayed in the office. There is a dinosaur called an 'Allosaurus', which pleases him. This is his shelf in the office.

 

Alan before his morning coffee.

Woo ate cheese and sorted out her vintage 60's, 70's and Scandinavian kitchenware.

This week we are hard at work on our next issue (April/May) which has some great articles coming up.

We hope you will enjoy following our exploits!