Iconic late 20th century design icons

Did you live in a house that had one of these in the kitchen ?

 

Yes, in my Grandma's house (but her unit was a primrose yellow).  Looking at the photo brings back to me a memory off cutting the linen wrapped rind off her cheshire cheese.  When I was a teenager I used to visit every night after school to help her when she was too old and frail to cope on her own.

I thought she was old when she fell off a stepladder when she was fifty-five, and she died when she was just less than a year older than me, but in my eyes she was then a very, very old lady (not at all like me in my tight Levis and trendy top, drinking with friends in a local pub this evening!!  I was sixteen at the time she died and she was my only living grandparent.

These days we have four grandchildren, and two on the way - and each of them have all their grandparents alive, together with several great grandparents, and one great-great grandparent. (and also a lot of extra 'step grandparents' as is the way these days).

That's one of the things we may be giving as a legacy to our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren - the gift of longevity!

Let them be reminiscing on forums such as this one, in years to come, when everything they have done and said is recorded on the internet somewhere - so there will be no need for ancestrry.com (they'll be able to see it all on their Facebook accounts).

So what will be the design icons of the early part of the 21st century.................!!!  Maybe warrants a separate post????

What a great post Valda and one i can relate to myself as i also only had brief time with my grandparents but now spend many,many hours with my grandchildren and great granchildren in fact i,m just about to leave on my school run with two of the grandchildren.

peter.

Valda - in an attempt to generate family interest I have set out my memories in the form of a booklet, on my PC, hoping that if my children/grandchildren add theirs, then future generations may have something of personal interest to read. Better than a cold and impersonal DoB and DoD.   (Birth/Death)

Imagine in 100 yrs someone exclaiming "did he really break the speed limit on a motorway and get away with it?" Who knows?

Thanks!  To get the thread back on track, what about the 45 single record?  That's surely as iconic as the Dansette which a lot of them were played on?

Yes another good choice Valda.The first 7inch 45rpm single was released by RCA Victor on the 31st of March 1949 in mono but by the early seventies all singles were in sterio.The one below has the large hole for use in a juke box

The Trimphone, , available in so many colours, surely the start of the 'design revolution' that affected everything in the home.  We were generally happy with hand me down furniture and household goods until the mid-fifties/sixties.  Then furniture and household items started to be design statements and everyone just had to have one.

Just thought of another one - Habitat furniture, and especially the Habitat catalogue!  It was an eye opener to be able to look at all the latest trendy furniture, and even order it and have it delivered to your home.  We still have some original Habitat dining room chairs, which have been upcycled many times since 1970 when we bought them from the catalogue!  They are still available in this link in one of the pages of the catalogue (Photo number 7 on the chairs page) and they are still in my dining room perfectly functional and admired by both my sons and their partners because they are 'vintage'!!!!

It's amazing looking at those pages to see just how many designs have stood the test of time, and there are almost identical products which are still for sale now!

I've just looked further down the page, and also seen a sofa which we had, though ours was covered in Sanderson 'Golden Lilly'!  Memories, memories!

Supermarine Spitfire iconic certainly

Late 20th century no.