Monday 17 August 2009

It's all in the Packaging...



I had intended to post a kind of photo diary of our all our jolly jaunts last week but then, on Friday, Mr Roses announced that we were off to London for the day, on a jolly that I had been wanting to do for quite some time. We decided to do something for everyone, a trip to an exhibition that Mr Roses had been wanting to see, a trip to Hamleys for Little Sister and, of course, to Topshop for Big Sister.



What better way to start an action packed day in London than a mooch around Notting Hill. We wander through the streets and market stalls of Portobello and, if it weren't for the million and one things we had planned to do, could quite easily have spent the day there. If you're going up soon, try and pop into the falafel bar on Portobello Road, we had the best lunch in ages.



After a quick detour involving walking up and down the lovely rows of houses and playing our favourite "If you could have just one house which would it be" game, we arrived at our destination. I have been wanting to come here to the Museum of Brands and Packaging for a long, long time.


Please click on the images to enlarge them

I love ephemera and vintage packaging and have often wondered if the collection here would live up to my expectations - it certainly did. I was in vintage packaging heaven! I think the rest of the Roses thought the trip worthwhile just to see the look on my face, honestly I didn't know what to do with myself!!!
Packaging, leaflets, posters and ephemera from World War Two:



Look at that sign asking you to bring your own paper to wrap your purchases, perhaps we should be doing the same thing today.



Household items have never looked so good. Almost makes you want to get the duster out.



Sweets and chocolates that brought back so many memories for me - I was back in my sweet shop as a little girl choosing my mother's Christmas box of chocolates and choosing my favourite sweets.



A history of packaging from Victorian times up to the present day. A hotch potch of wonderful imagery and graphics. A social history that you could drool over. I must admit looking through the shelves and shelves and shelves of goodies it was the most recent additions that disappointed.



Would we really be drooling over our packaging in years to come?
I can't recommend this museum enough, it may be small but what's that saying? "Good things come in small packages..." If only there had been some for sale!!!!!



How do you recover from a place like that? Why you jump on a tube, walk quickly along the Embankment and arrive at the Courtauld Gallery, one of our favourite art galleries in town. After all that rushing we really wished we'd brought a change of clothes and hopped into some of those fountains down in the courtyard of Somerset House, looks like so much fun.



We had promised ourselves we wouldn't miss theBloomsbury Exhibition that was on here. A small exhibition that had some fabulous examples of fabrics, textiles and designs that the Bloomsbury group produced for the Omega Workshops. A great display. There was also a small exhibition of Winifred Gill's designs and prints including some for toys she had intended to be made for the workshops.
We wandered quickly through some of the other galleries, gawping at the Cezannes, Renoirs, Manets but were very conscious of the Rosebuds desire to go shopping. So a whistlestop tour this time, with just enough time to visit the gallery shop where we made a few purchases:



I wish!!!

29 comments:

Tracy said...

Oh, I would love to have seen that Bloomsbury exhibition...oh, how I miss London! What a great day out... A day trip to London does lift the spirits. Glad you all had a grand day out! :o) ((HUGS))

French Knots said...

I went to the Courtauld once years ago and really enjoyed it, some amazing pictures and as it was pre children I could mooch about for ages.
Looks like you packed something for everyone into your whistle stop tour.

MelMel said...

Hello!
Great trip!

I love old packaging.....looks like a fab place!x

Floss said...

How wonderful! That looks like a really amazing museum - I am beginning to learn about vintage French packaging now, too. Rose Charles has a post about Portobello Road today too!

Sal said...

Just the sort of thing I love doing!
;-)

Pomona said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and your lovely comment! I didn't know about that museum - it looks absolutely wonderful! You certainly made the most of your day in town.

Pomona x

Lisa said...

What a wonderful palce that museum is, I'd love to go.
A lovely family day out.
Lisa x

Heidi said...

What a fun day out. I love Portobello Road! There are old shops preserved with the old packaged items in Holland. They are fun to visit and seem to hold a certain kind of art to them that we do not achieve nowadays.

Hugs ~
Heidi

Amanda and Tim said...

Oh oh oh I just love the "if you could have just one house" game... in fact I play it on my own all the time if there is no-one around to play it with!! And as for the museum... WOW!!! I didn't even know it existed... I have never really "done" London... only passed through on the tube or spent the evening looking for somewhere to eat before catching a flight... but now I know what a treasure trove there is I may just have to pull my socks up and get going... I just LOVE vintage brands... too true what you say about today's packaging and adverts :o(

Ally Jay said...

That exhibition looks fabulous. I love the vintage look to the old brands. Somehow they speak of simpler times, or perhaps that's just old age and nostalgia

Cowboys and Custard Mercantile said...

Well Milly.. you took the words from my mouth. again! I was feasting my eyes on the first photo of packaging thinking.. this is heaven.. I wouldn't know what to do with myself in a place like that! I would definitely need some smelling salts!
A fantastic place and one I look forward to visiting on our staff outing.. and that felafel bar!

Love Dottie x

A time to dance said...

I would love to have been to all the places you visited one of my to do wish I could things is to go to the Bloomsbury house...I love the Bloomsbury period and their work...and the museum...wonderful...have a lovely week...love H

Thimbleanna said...

Wow! You really know how to pack it in! Next time I go to London I want YOU to be my tourguide!

Elizabethd said...

What fascinating places you chose to visit.
I saw all sorts of well remembered names...Rinso, Vim, Brillo! I've never been to that museum but would love to ...one day!

Suzy's Vintage Attic said...

Hello Kim
What a great day out! Lucky girl, I would to visit that museum. I would be in there ages inspecting each tin closely!
Great postn & congratulations on your new website, it is brilliant!
Isabelle x

Pam said...

Very very pretty.

Anonymous said...

I spent hours in the packaging museum, even thought it's tiny - and wasn't it nice that there were so many young people there? I thought it would be full of old ladies on WI coach trips, on a nostalgia trip! But on the day I went there were lots of young art students. It's so tucked away, though, that I think lots of people aren't aware of it.

Marigold Jam said...

Have just been recommended to view your blog by Meggie - so glad I came over as we were thinking of perhaps taking advantage of the £10 summer madness offer on South Western trains and taking a second trip up to London (I posted on our last on my blog). The museum sounds great and also the Courtauld Gallery exhibition - I must work on Monsieur to see if we might go tomorrow!

I'll be a regular follower of yours now and must say I love all your llittle photos in your sidebar. Must figure out how to add things to my side bars too.

Jane

Anonymous said...

Hi KIm,

You certainly packed a lot into one day! I've never visited the Courtauld ~ it is so long since I last visited London. The packaging museum looks fascinating ~ I can imagine playing shops in there would be any (little or not so little?) girl's fancy...

I've been an infrequest blogger in recent months, but I'm glad that I stopped by for a visit today. Have a great weekend.

Marie x

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

It's a lovely museum ... a must for everyone , I think ... all those things you hadn't thought about in years ! Camp coffee for instance , it tasted horrible but I loved the label .

Joshy and belle said...

i love all the vintage packaging! fliss xx

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Kickcan & Conkers said...

Wow - what an amazing museum, I've never heard of it before - so much amazing packaging = heaven!!! The Courtauld is fabulous isn't it?
Must have been a wonderful day out.

mountainear said...

Love that old packaging - have put it on the to-do list for when we are next in London.

If you are ever in this part of the world (South Shropshire) you should visit 'The Land of Lost Content' in Craven Arms. The quirkiest museum - a celebration of the lives of ordinary people.

{Love, Love, Love} said...

Oh what a lovely museum....I shall have to try and go there when I next get to London x

karenshopes said...

Just popped in to say hello as I'm new to blooging. I was happy to see your picture of the girl bedhine the counter. When I was 16 my first job was in an art gallery and we were having an exhibition one evening, and I was serving drinks. A lady came to me and said how much I reminded her of this picture, the way I was standing, the look on my face, the next day she brought me the picture and its always served as a lovely reminder of my first ever job.
Pop over and say hello.
Karen

Louise said...

Will you be taking on staff at the Emporium? I'd like to come on the staff outing too! Have a good BH weekend. x

Rowan said...

The Museum of Brands and Packaging looks fascinating, must put it on my list of places to go next time I visit London. I've got a couple of Robert Opie's books and enjoy looking at them. I've never been to the Courtauld either - London is so full of wonderful places to visit.