Wednesday 3 October 2012

The Retro Decorator - Osborne and Little, Then and now

I've not done a Retro Decorator post for a long while, so I've been flicking through my collection of old magazines (mainly to see if I can find a "Greek style" retro decorator theme - still looking for that one though), and I thought it might be time I did another then and now post.

Founded in the Swinging 60s, Osborne and Little started off with hand-printed wallpaper. Today they are known for a wide variety of fabrics and wallpapers. In the 80s, you could have found an ad for them that looked like this:

Osborne & Little ad, House & Garden, February 1989
...whereas their latest print ad looks like this:

Osborne & Little ad, LivingEtc, October 2012
Despite the 20-odd years that separate them, the feel and principles are still similar, mainly in that it is not immediately obvious what the ad is for, in both instances. They also have quite a heritage appeal (interesting considering their relatively short history). Where other companies might feature samples or interiors decked out in their patterns, Osborne and Little have chosen to use them to slightly less obvious effect.

Would you have guessed what they were for?

2 comments:

  1. Hello there ladies..I found your charming blog when I visited my friend over at mirandasbeautifulthings...I thought I would take a look and had to join up. Great job! I will pop by again soon.

    ReplyDelete

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