Volpe and Volpe retro-style string holders

Volpe and Volpe describe themselves as modernised nostalgia. What on earth, you may ask, has that got to do with a ceramic mole with a pair of scissors in the middle of his face? That's because, more specifically, Volpe and Volpe are attempting to revive some of Britain's pottery designs that have fallen by the wayside for whatever reason, to give them a subtle update for the twenty-first century and to launch them on a population now hungry for products featuring foxes and owls and other natural delights. So you get the likes of this little fellow, from Babbacombe Pottery by Lownds-Pateman. He's a string holder - the glasses-like scissors are to cut the sting, see? 

You can also get a string holder owl and a fox too along the same lines. Aside from all those brown paper packages, I'm not sure how much string I need on a daily basis but they are no less cute objects for it. (I still daydream about my nan's cat string holder, smashed long ago and laid to rest in newspaper.) Hand-painted and made in England, both the owl and the mole are just £16.99 each, while the fox goes for £19.99.

There's other retro ceramics sold by Volpe and Volpe too: a couple of purely decorative foxes or the mid-century swans that were featured on My Friend's House and which first lead me to this animal treasure trove.

Volpe and Volpe seem to have big plans which include launching an entire dinner service later this year. I await their new products with interest. Until then, it seems, they've at least got the ceramic string holder market all tied up.