WREN & SUSY
The wren was given to Susy by her ex-husband as they were packing up their home after twenty one years of marriage. The marriage had mostly been a happy one but had now come to an end, the wren, an apt but uncalculated analogy.
DICTIONARY & MICHAEL
Mr Corsar Senior’s well-thumbed New Elizabethan Reference Dictionary was given to Michael by his mum when his dad died. Michael says this was ‘presumably because we were the only two in the house that read it. Or for that matter, that read’.
CORONATION MUGS & NOEL
Noel’s not sure where or when she acquired the mugs. They were produced by Wedgwood for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953. Ravilious’s original illustration commemorated Edward VIIIs coronation in 1936 and was used twice for subsequent coronations, even after his death when working as an official war artist in ’42. Richard Guyatt, the Royal College of Art’s youngest professor at aged 34, designed the other mug. He was responsible for coining the term ‘graphic design’ in an effort to shake off the derogatory associations of ‘commercial art’ even though ‘no one was quite sure what it meant’.
ELMO & HANNAH
Hannah was five when her dad gave her Elmo. He worked in America regularly and always brought her back a Sesame Street toy. Elmo is her favourite, so when she left home she took him with her. Her brother has always said she looks like a muppet and friends say her big round head makes her look like Elmo. She likes to position him in her window so that when people walk past they can see him laughing from her bedroom.
SUITCASES & SIX
When Six first started dating Julia, now his wife, she was still living in Munich and Six in London. He found a Globetrotter suitcase in Selfridges and thought it would be the perfect present for their long distance relationship. Unfortunately, it was too expensive so he began collecting second hand cases. The cases have been produced since the late 1800s and the craftsmanship means that they’re built to last. All but two were bought on ebay, one rescued from a tip and another picked up at a local charity shop. Six still travels regularly to Munich where his young son receives medical care. The suitcases, while they’re practical and robust, also offer a nice ‘bit of frivolity’ as an antidote to the need for so much travelling.
BLACKBERRY & NANCY
Three year old Nancy’s first word, aged ten months, was something resembling ‘blackberry’ – ‘bah bah’. Happily, not after a PDA but, being a country kid, after the fruit that she was fed from the hedgerows. Presents aren’t generally much fun when you’re really, really young and I wanted Nancy to understand what she was being given for Christmas so I made her a big blackberry. I bought a purple sweater from Oxfam but it ran out before the blackberry was complete, I finished it off with red bobbles (druplets) made out of a moth eaten scarf. This September Nancy and I went blackberrying, we ate more than we collected. When we got home we made a crumble that was more crumble than fruit. On serving it up to the rest of the family, Nancy, with her moustache of juice, unblinkingly denied eating any blackberries.
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