Recolouring a classic homeware design

Picknick by Marianne Westman has been a Swedish design icon ever since its launch in the 1950’s, and this Summer it has been expertly recoloured in a fresh new Scandinavian palette of subdued unisex colours, with notes of soft burgundy and terracotta mixed with gentle olive greens and petrol blues.

Recolouring this famous design in these fresh new colours gives the print a brand new young appeal and we have this in a range of tea towels, chopping boards, pot stands and trays, as well as cotton fabric. 

 

 

Marianne Westman was a Swedish designer who created her original Picknick design back in the 1950's. It had clear strong blues, dark reds, lemon and petrol and was first used on kitchen porcelain. However it proved so popular it has been used on every kitchen item from aprons, mitts, tea towels and fabric ever since. New House stocks items that have been in continous production ever since. 

 

 

 

Recolouring older popular designs can be a great way to bring them up to date and make them frsh again. It is not that the original colours can be improved on, more that seeing a much-loved design in new colours makes us look again and appreciate the quality of a timeless design.

Picknick is not the first time we have stocked classic Swedish domestic prints that have been up-dated with new colours. Another Marianne Westman design Belle Amie was introduced in orange a few years ago when the original was always blue : 

 

  

 

Not long ago another classic design, this time by Astrid Sampe - Persons Kryddskap (or Herb Garden) was also reinterpreted by Almedahls Studio in black and white. This new monochrome version helped make this well-loved print more direct, powerful and contemporary :

 

 

Today we run this design in a number of useful kitchen items such as chopping boards, tea towels, trays and a kitchen sponge cloth :

 

 

 

 

Designers will always want to create something brand new, but sometimes refreshing a timeless design from the past keeps its heritage alive, and works just as well!