NEW BLOG LOCATION

Please note: the manufactory has moved its blog to our new website:

www.themanufactory.com.au

If you move across and join us there, you can link into our Facebook place page, our online shop (eBay) and our new blog.

We'd love to hold onto you as our online customer, so please take the time to check out our new site.

Thanks for your patronage

Tanya & Cliff
August 2012

Retro furniture finds...

It's always heartening to find beautiful and practical furniture pieces to go on show in the manufactory.

At present, we have a gorgeous retro cherry red armchair that is nestling quite nicely near the front of our shop. I can just picture it by a fireplace creating a cosy reading nook, or maybe near a window for a spot of people watching...

We also have a handy little green laminate table with 2 green chairs in very good condition. A little smaller than a conventional sized table, it would fit into a smaller kitchen space quite easily. Dimensions are 76cm width x 122cm length.

Drop by and see more of our newly acquired retro pieces including assorted coloured telephones (rotary dial and push button), woven baskets that make awesome pots and gorgeous orange canister sets.

Trending retro and vintage yellow furniture and homewares

During these gloomy winter days, it is so refreshing to pep up our interiors.

Here at the manufactory we have been rearranging our lovely pieces for your viewing inspiration.

Take a look at our fresh window display in mellow yellows:

 

Gorgeous and a bit quirky too.

Oh yes, and we have the wonderful little French terracotta pots back in stock now too.Priced from $11 each:

Vintage printers furniture just in ...

Just hot in store and looking amazing - two gorgeous vintage printers cabinets - complete with original printers trays!

The timber printers cabinet is the older of the two. It has dimensions of 123cm (h), 88cm (l) and 50cm (d). There are 18 assorted timber trays, all with various sized type holes. The top has a slope that would have originally assisted in the set-up of type. POA.

The second cabinet is comprised of 24 metal and timber Prescott printers trays. This is a great retro piece with industrial grunt. Cabinet dimensions are 114cm (h), 90cm (w) and 51cm (d). POA.

We also have a very limited number of printers mini-trays with letters and a few numbers too. These are all metal type.

Also, we have more amazing Patay blueprints back in stock. Prices start from $15 each.

Australian designed pastel hued homewares

Note: green and mushroom dial phones are now SOLD.

 Enjoying our freezing Melbourne weather? I particularly notice it every morning whilst washing the ice off the car's windscreen. There is something to be said for having a garage, or carport... oh well there are other benefits to living in Pentridge Village!

Anyway, I cannot believe it has been nearly a month since our last post. Opps.

What have we been doing? Well, we now have a Facebook place page called the manufactory. This usually has our breaking news first ... although we have been a little slack there too recently.

We have an eBay store called the manufactory up and running. We are listing around 5 items a week. It's a great place for our out of towners to grab a little piece of the manufactory.

We are also keenly awaiting the release of our own website which will link together our blog, eBay store, Facebook page etc at the one site. A few server issues, but hang in there, it will be here soon...

So what do we have of interest in store? Great retro and vintage stock as usual. Plus, pastel hued Melbourne designed new homewares to brighten up your winter home, that's what!
 
Don't forget our Cristina Re teacups and matching saucers are still only $20. Just until stocks run out folks. Running low on black and pink teacups especially. Great for a warming cuppa.
 
And we have restocked our wonderful Angus & Celeste ceramic hanging planters. Four colours are back - green, yellow, pink and blue - in both the jelly mould style and pleated style. Gorgeous.
 
Oh yes, in this hectic June, we also had our 2nd birthday. June 16th was the 2nd anniversary of the manufactory. Hip hip hooray!

Just in - sunny retro pieces

Here at the manufactory we have just stocked up with some really well preserved retro homewares. 

Ranging from rotary dial telephones, to footstools, anodised lamps, funky orange kitchen canisters, mirrors and figurines, they are all excellent representations of the 1950/60s.

Here's some sunny yellow hued photos to get you interested:

Cute little beagle figurine (SOLD)guards a footstool and mound-making plants (these little clumps are Zoysia tenuifolia, a native to Tasmania):

Immaculate Vernon Ward white swan print (now SOLD):

Pie crust mirrors (SOLD), metal cursive house sign 'Dandee Vue' and wire plant stands:

This little haul has some of the best condition retro furniture and homewares we have seen so far. They won't last long...

Cabinet of Clearance - vintage, new, retro, or handmade items

CABINET OF CLEARANCE

The first official cabinet of clearance for the manufactory is now on!

We have on offer gorgeous teacups and saucers from Melbourne's Cristina Re. In retro pastel colours - pink, blue, yellow, mint - and traditional black and white.

Usually priced at $25 each, now $20 each. Until stock sold out.

FYI here's a close up of the delicate pink teacup:

BTW did you know the manufactory is now on Facebook? Like us to keep up with all our newest finds!

Retro inclinations and a most excellent Union Jack flag

Thanks to everyone for making this Mother's Day the best on record! We loved serving you all, and your appreciation of the gift wrapping. We were awash with pinks and creams, and hope your Mums all loved their presents.

It was bound to happen I suppose...the manufactory is now stocking retro homewares. We have been drip feeding well designed, mid century furniture and kitchenalia into our stock for the past year or so.  

And it is fun! 

From the Don Featherstone flamingo pairs (which recently helped a local sell her Thornbury home at auction), to the wonderful sets of colourful retro canisters (well we did have them, but they are all sold at present), Sebel stak-a-bye chairs (ditto, already sold) and awesome Angus & Celeste pastel-hued ceramic hanging baskets (green is now back in stock).

See a teeny weeny pattern emerging?

All our retro (mid century) items have been carefully selected to complement our existing vintage and new pieces. No mustard coloured 70s graphics here (yet!).

And here's a peak at our newest vintage find, an amazing Union Jack flag:

All we need now is a framed print of Queen Elizabeth II, like the ones that primary schools used to hang in their hallways...

Mother's Day shopping

Drop into the manufactory for all your Mother's Day shopping needs. Did you know we stock an interesting range of retro homewares, vintage furniture and Australian handmade items that would make great gifts:

• one-off vintage canister sets
• retro kitsch flamingos by Don Featherstone
• pastel coloured hanging baskets by Angus & Celeste from the leafy Dandenongs
• ethical and beautiful house cleaning and beauty products from Australian company Murchison-Hume
• Scented candles by True Grace
• Triple milled soaps by Melbourne Murphy & Daughters
• Awesome vintage botanical charts
• Handmade luggage by Ballarat company Trunk & Orderly
• Gardenware, trugs and slate labels by Nutscene
• Hand screen printed linen by Melbourne company printink studio
• New labware, glass cloches, candy jars and vases

And for some more good news, Business Victoria has once again featured our little shop in their Mother's Day homepage carousel:

http://www.business.vic.gov.au/

Here's the link to our case study on visual merchandising too:

http://www.business.vic.gov.au/tips-and-case-studies/create-a-visually-stunning-display

Thanks BV!

Is your Mum a vintage, new or handmade type of gal?

Top Photo: Beautiful new ceramic planters from Melbourne duo Angus&Celeste hang beside our vintage parrot, Harriet (our lovely parrot is now SOLD).

At the manufactory we are constantly on the look out for items that show the beauty of age or handmade toil, yet are useful to our modern lives too. This can often be harder to do than it may sound, especially during Mother's Day.

So what can we offer your Mum this Mother's Day? 

Maybe she loves the colour green? We have new, vintage and handmade items in colors ranging from mint to eau de nil to teal.

Or maybe pink is more her style? Mix pastel pinks, musks, fluorescent pinks and blackcurrant together for a very feminine gift.

How about gifts in gorgeous blue ranging from duck egg, to navy, baby blue and aqua.

We even have some sunny citrus coloured items with yellow, orange and creams.

And finally for a dramatic gift, we have blacks, ebony and grey stock in many textures and tones.

So drop in and choose your Mum, or someone special, a beautiful thoughtful present that will make her home that bit more special. 

Remember we also offer free gift wrapping for most items (we might struggle to wrap a vintage ladder or industrial lockers). Our current wrapping uses salvaged pianola scrolls that have been so well played they are not good enough to sell as wall hangings, but they are just perfect as giftwrap.

NOTE: the manufactory will be closed on Anzac Day, Thursday 25 April, until Tuesday 30 April when we re-open at 10am.

Vintage Furniture stories

For those customers who have made it into our new shop at 881 High Street, you may have noticed a renewed focus on small furniture pieces at the manufactory.

We aim to stock vintage and select retro items that can double as useful, as well as beautiful, furniture in your home. Think bedside tables, hallway tables, side tables, benches, stools, chairs, tv cabinets, etc.

At present, we have two furniture 'stories' in the centre of our store. The first grouping has a green retro-theme with accents of bronze(both chairs are now sold). The maidenhair ferns team wonderfully with these pieces:

Then there's gorgeous mint and red timber painted grouping. We have stools, benches, little tables (including set of 3 red nesting Kartell tables) and assorted homewares:

Plus, our newest handmade supplier 'keep me cute' has grown some really cute items. We have in stock toadstool terrariums and baubles with white rabbits, or deer. Priced from $25, they simply make beautiful presents.

 

 

We have also set up an email account just for our store. To contact us, simply email themanufactory@hotmail.com.

Gorgeous vintage finds

Do we have some great vintage items in store for you at the moment...

We went vintage scrounging last week and here's a taste of what we found:

• A gorgeous patined c1950 pressed metal toy horse by Mobo, known as the Bronco. Made by Sebel & Co. in England (yes, the furniture company). POA

• Arguably the first portable gramophone, known as the Crescendo Junior by Decca, in a fibrocite brown case. Fully functional, great big sound from the sound box. Equipped with countless needles, record cleaner by Brunswick and an album full of old records. Lovely and rare in such good nick. POA

• Great assorted industrial and trades items, from cabinets to drawers, hand-held lights and stacks of trays and boxes.

• Really cool fans are back in store now too (pink step ladder and small fan now SOLD):

• And finally, another peek at our lovely candle, cloche, greenery (herbs, cyclamens), cleaning items holding bench with the Heather botanical chart in the background: