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THE USEFUL PRESENT.

NEW DESIGNS. The useful present is a much more presentable and good-looking thing than it used to be in the days when it was conlined to some stern article of household use or to handkerchiefs or gloves. This is largely due to the increasing interest of designers in ordinary ' everyday articles. Wood, for instance, which used to bo despised unless it was well dcco--1 rated and polished and turned into silly » little trinkets, is coming into its own. 1 A bread board in clean, hard sycamore i with ono simple indented line, makes not only a useful present but also a distinguished one on the table or sideboard. Grey ash, limed oak and walnut are made into line practical trays which need no traycloth to cover them. Glass used to be condemned to saltcellars or useless ornaments which gathered the dust, but the English and Swedish glassmakers have enlisted the services of designers who have produced the decorative and the useful. The oldfashioned colours of bottle and willow green are being used again, and one of the thick vases in bottle green makes a good present. Fruit dishes and rose bowls are rescued from the commonplace in the ne\v glass designs. Ribbon-glass is ail ingenious way of introducing a second colour as a running ribbon on the glass, and is effective in bowls. Optic glass is another of the new glasses which give a heavy, stalwart effect on sideboards. China. The decorative but useful china present was usually confined to tall vases or ugly bowls for plants. Nowadays a set of mugs in white and blue or four large plates in t»ouie simple clear design are good ideas. Various pieces can be collected in this way, and a present to start off with makes a good foundation. The old-fashioned pairs of dogs or lovers in china have been replaced by the small plaques or statues or book-ends. Most of these arc done by individual artists, and have the advantage that you nearly always get a distinctive and original piece. Small houses and cottages and the need for compact .furnishings have had their effect on the useful present. The utility box with twine, rubber bands, clips, pins, gummed paper, and tape and labels replaces a good many rumbling drawers and cupboards. Pictures of line repute arc now down to book size in dimension, and a 6 low in price as half a crown. Books for jotting and cuttings have those fresh cover designs which lighten the corner of a room. There is no better present than the attractive blocks of notepa per with boxes of refills. Match containers are no longer offensive in design, and the tops of the matches themselves help in the scheme. '1 he new small and ingenious electric lamps for corners and dcrjks have, in most cases, been carefully modelled. And even the pleasant and almost necessary jig-saw puzzle can be given in attractive pictures.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19351218.2.124.3

Bibliographic details

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 14

Word Count
491

THE USEFUL PRESENT. Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 14

THE USEFUL PRESENT. Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 14