The Ybry perfume house that started in a suburb of Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine on ‘rue d’Ybry’ (Ybry Street) provides rare collectibles for some interesting reasons.

The outstanding, luxurious quality of production: the larger quantities of Ybry’s perfumes were sold in a color-identifiable, discretely gold sparkled crystal bottle – the use of crystal here is superfluous as each bottle was colored. Every bottle had a ground crystal stopper protected by a cubic enameled, brass stopper top and came in a leather covered, wood box with a silk tassel and velvet interior.

The form of the bottle is quite representative of the Art Déco movement of the roaring 20′s in its geometrical layout. Today among collectors, the term ‘jerrycan’ bottle can be heard.

The Ybry perfume house only produced these exceptional works for a short period: from 1922 /1923 to 1929. Due to its costly presentation, Ybry was unable to maintain its exceptional level of luxury further to the Great Crash of 1929 that ran Ybry’s rich clients to bankruptcy . After this period and to survive, Ybry produced a more run-of-the-mill, less costly produced bottle. Rapidly, the colored bottle left place to a single clear glass bottle with the label of an equally diminished quality to differentiate the perfumes. Some bottles bare a cork-based stopper -quite unfortunate for the collector of this period.

Unlike other perfume houses such as Houbigant, Caron and Guerlain who decreased the cost of the bottle and box but maintained an identical standard of quality on the perfume ingredients, Ybry chose to use less expensive ingredients in its renowned 20′s creations. This choice decreased yet more Ybry’s clientele.

Due to the aftermath of October 1929 along with unwise business decisions, Ybry, like many other perfume houses of that period, faded away into oblivion. Only the originality and quality of  Ybry’s 20′s creations keep it alive today in the perfume bottle collectors’ mind. These bottles are now very few and far between and are reserved for the top flea market client or can be noticed to fire up auctions at Drouot.

Building the 1920′s bottles into a collection will prove costly both in patience and money but, in my opinion, quite a wise investment. One or two examples of perfume presentations after 1930 could be kept as a rare novelty or for comparison purposes.

Two tidbits of info:
1. a company called Ybry does exist today and is specialized in luxury products of all sorts. The site puts forth those famous perfumes. Unfortunately I have yet to see the perfumes in Paris.
2. a fashion designer and a once outstanding perfume house overtly copied (though they say ‘inspired by’) the jerrycan form of the Ybry bottle and color-coordination concept for a line of grocery shop of perfumes.

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Enjoy the colorful ride.

Flohmarkt am Naschmarkt
by Phillip B. Bauer

Music by: Richard Strauss
Song: Emperor’s Waltz

Doing stuff at the Naschmarkt
by nuzumaki

Took my Iscorama 36 and my new Helios 44 and caught the first spring moments at Vienna’s Naschmarkt. Shoot fully open @ 50p with Fader ND. Camera preset: Neutral. No color correction

Music by: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Song: Destroy the Evidence

Flohmarkt am Naschmarkt
by Julia Polzer

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Who said that everything had to be slick & clean? Get a little crazy, and give some “volume” to your old stuff at home. A mirror, a piece of furniture, a picture frame, and old chair, a wall, a board… try and customize things around you to give it a unique flavor. Quite often, some objects can really, really get nicer… and customization is the best answer to boredom, when you have enough of seeing the old, same stuff around you.

Don’t throw away: Experiment & recycle.

It’s free. It’s good for the environment. It’s good for your soul.

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Two years ago we wrote about Munich’s giant flea market, which was held for the 46th time! This truly gigantic event, which brings together every year around 2,000 retailers and above a million visitors from all over Europe, for a one festive day of flea market sales in the Theresienwiese, constitutes an amazing opportunity for flea market and thrifting lovers, to find great second-hand goods at a very low price (if you follow at least some of the recommendations we shared in our post “The Art Of Flea Market Haggling”): clothe, design furniture, militaria, home appliances, electronic, antiques, etc. are at the reach of any budget! Have a look at our 2010 review of the flea market if you want to have a more in depth overview of this event. We also shared some pictures for the very pleasure of your eyes.

This year unfortunately we could not attend the event… however, to keep up with the tradition, we found an interesting footage/video of the event, as well as a link to a photo gallery picturing this amazing (and sunny) day. Enjoy the visit, and hopefully see you there next year!

Munich Giant Flea Market (Riesen-Flohmarkt Theresienwiese )
Next date: Saturday April 20th, 2013
From 7am to 4pm
Place: Theresienwiese (Matthias-Pschorr-Straße 1, 80336 München)

[source: muenchen.de]

Afficher Flea Markets in Munich sur une carte plus grande

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Over this time, I’ve made some haphazard purchases and have been influenced into quite a number of collecting phases: by perfume house, by color, with a tassel, baccarat-crystal, from the 1920′s…  At times crowned with unique finds, I’ve lucked out more than I can count and have bought some uncontestable bloopers. So based on what I consider in-depth experience, I can proudly appoint myself as an ‘expert’ among many others in this collection field.

A sincere gentleman has invited me to share my passion and suggestions for perfume bottle collecting on this blog – and how flattered I am to do so! So allow me to share with you my maturely established position on scent bottles.

The most important suggestion I can provide you, the budding collector, with is to hunt down the type of bottle YOU LIKE. ‘Experts’ will affirm at times in a pushy manner: ‘only collect from such-n-such house’, ‘invest in a one-per-month purchase’, ‘don’t collect such-n-such brand, the market is frowning on it, ‘choose only ground crystal topper bottles’, ‘don’t touch anything after the 50′s’ and so on. I believe some suggestions come from the heart of a collector who has decided to build his collection accordingly and others are simply snobbism. In an attempt to follow these ‘rules’, I have let some really nice bottles slide by: a Colonie by Jean Patou because the stopper was a plastemeri (mid-evolution between ground and plastic stopper) and an L.T. Piver because that house simply is no longer in the top ten list. Nonsense…

A brief anecdote: till this day, I have a guilt complex due to the fact that I fail to share the opinion that Coty bottles made by Lalique are the epitome of the perfume bottle world. The dense, heavy squareness that is innate to Baccarat gets my humble vote.

You need to choose what you like, what catches your eye, and feel free to let your collection evolve as time goes on. I quickly discovered , for example, there was very limited number of black crystal bottles -I do love black bottles- on the market and in my price range. So yet again, my frustration grew as I couldn’t afford a ‘Liu’ or a ‘Dandy’. I did though corner the market with all the different sizes of  ’Nuit de Noël’ by Caron:

On the point of budget, you do have a choice. You can go to a specialized antique shop to buy your bottles. In doing so you are sure of the authenticity and quality of your purchase. As for me and if you’ve noticed the wording in my title, when I go to a flea market or a garage sale, I am hunting. I want to find the rarity for the cheapest price forgotten at the bottom of a cardboard box. On, though, one occasion I broke for a high purchase: ‘Devinez’ by Ybry. But even at €96 it was an excellent buy.

In my future posts, I will hit on the delicate in’s and out’s of the ground stopper you need to know, what makes a crystal scent bottle unique or run-of-the-mill (which has nothing to do with its natural beauty), why brushing up on your early 20th century history can be helpful in perfume bottle collecting, and a few other tidbits.

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Chairs are a design element per se, which means that they can individually be used as a decorative object, since they embody the architectural and design spirit of an era.

Also, since they have this particularity of being able to co-exist in a single space (just try and picture a room with a Louis XV arm-chair, a set of two Wire Chair by Bertoia, a LC-4 lounge chair by Le Corbusier and two wooden Thonet chairs from 1890…), it would be a pity not to take advantage of this. So if you’re planning to get rid-off your old set of chairs in your kitchen or living room, don’t rush to buy another set. Instead try and resist this urge, and give your home a new and more eclectic flavor by showcasing a mix of chairs. This can be easily achieved if you show up a few times at your nearby flea market, pay a visit to some antique dealers or just spend a few hours on eBay…

Have a look at the slideshow above and discover which style fits you best: an eclectic chair set, or a more formal/traditional combination. Both will work, depending on what your taste is. It’s just that simple.

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The Anjuna Flea Market, Goa is named after the famous Anjuna beach. The Anjuna market is organized on Wednesdays on Anjuna beach. Every Wednesday, people from all over Goa come to this beach and become a part of one of the most popular shopping destinations in Goa. Shopping in Goa is a truly interesting pastime. There are a number of small souvenir shops in Goa that sell everything from antique coins to dried fish. Since Goa is mainly known for its lovely beaches, a number of people set up their stalls right at the beach to attract customers. The Anjuna Flea Market is the perfect example of this business sense.

The setting up of the Anjuna Flea Market was mainly the idea of foreigners who decided to earn some money buy selling small self made items and their own belongings. Over a period of time, the idea gained momentum and more and more people joined in. Today, it has become one of the most popular local markets in Goa.

Anjuna Flea Market – Merchandise
The Anjuna Flea Market in Goa offers a wide range of innovative items and products. Some of the must buy items sold at the market include:

• European Style Jewelry
• Semiprecious Stones
• Incense
• Embroidered Items
• Hammocks
• Crystals
• Handicrafts
• Bedspreads
• Fancy Knives

Other Attractions at Anjuna Flea Market
There are also a number of other attractions at Anjuna Flea Market. You will come across professional European hair cutters and hair stylists who will cut and style your hair in the latest style or your preferred style at reasonable costs. There are also a number of body and nose piercing professionals as well as body painters who sit at the market. Be sure to bargain for all items, products and services. The market is extremely lively and you can just wander through, enjoying the bands playing music, snake charmers showing their skills and watch hippies do the juggling act.

The Saturday Night Market, Arpora, Goa

If you’re in Goa for the weekend, make sure you stop by the Saturday Night Market in Arpora. Walking distance from the hip nightspot Club Cubana, this market has an eclectic selection of clothes, shoes, bags, handicrafts, jewellery, leather accessories, home décor, spices and festoons. Hippies operating out of tiny workshops sell silver jewellery for every part of the body you can imagine getting pierced, while local Goan folk have stalls laden with trinkets and souvenirs. There are also products by upcoming designers from the rest of the country. Whether you’re looking for an original Desigual dress or authentic Kashmiri chappals, you’ll find it here; just be prepared to look hard and bargain even harder. The market has plenty of food stalls and Goa’s best restaurants are here, serving cuisines from all over the world. And if all this doesn’t catch your fancy, there’s plenty of live music and performances to keep you entertained for hours.

Arpora is in North Goa, a short taxi ride away from most beaches in the north. The market is opened on Saturday, from 6pm to midnight.

[source: CNN Traveller and Goa Trip]

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As an answer to this problem, the design agency KDDI has showcased a new iida smartphone design at the Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which is built around the concept of “fusion”: the phone is designed by Jaime Hayon and focuses on bringing an emotional connect to the myriad features of current smartphones, eventually sticking an analog clock into the bezel of a modern smartphone, that would actually have to be manually wound up in order for it to work just like in the good old days. The smartphone also has switches and even a button-wheel, that gives a complete retro look to the whole thing.

I have no idea on whether this mobile will ever be developed, but given Japan’s peculiar love and penchant for such gizmos, this would be no surprise if it would make it to production. Head on over to KDDI’s website for the details.

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The Naschmarkt

Arguably the most popular flea market in Vienna, the Naschmarkt is among the oldest in the city, and covers a huge area while offering almost everything that you can think of. If you are interested in diverse international food items, then head to this flea market. You can find fresh Asian shrimps, Italian cheese, spices, olives and all sorts of fruits. The great part is that none of these will burn a hole in your pocket. Apart from food, you can also get old furniture, carpets, postcards from the times of war, Indian jewellery etc.

The Flohmarkt

Located just adjacent to the Naschmarkt, Vienna Flohmarkt (the german word for “flea market”) is Vienna’s largest flea marke and one of the best flea markets in Europe.  Surrounded by magnificent Art Nouveau buildings, it stretches for several blocks of stands hawking books, clothes, records, ancient electrical goods, old postcards, ornaments, carpets and many more, including what many would consider junk. The flea market has space for 400 exhibitors, half of which are reserved for Vienna’s antique dealers and is a great attraction for lovers of everything old and bizarre… Individuals can offer objects for sale, too, and there is a large variety of things sold: high-quality collector’s items and furniture in need of minor restoration work as well as books, second-hand clothes, curiosities and junk. Its multicultural atmosphere attracts in equal proportions flea market enthusiasts, treasure hunters and tourists.

Flohmarkt Flea Market
Open Saturdays from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm
Location- Adjacent to Naschmarkt Flea Market

Afficher Flea markets Vienna sur une carte plus grande

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“In the 1926 Tootsietoys catalog, this car was announced with the following words: ‘Boys love speed. They are always ready for a race.’ The Tootsietoy Racer with the number 23 on the grille is probably the first diecast racing car ever. Sadly the little car wasn’t very impressive and could not compare to the great American racing cars of the ’20s, like the Millers or Duesenbergs.”

Cars photographed by and drawn from the collection of Michael Spengler. For more of Michael’s collection, see his book (abridgement) Racing Cars.

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