These glasses take me back to my boyhood in the Sixties. I remember that the Christmas decorations were naive, simple and (frequently) two-dimensional. The annual "Magical Santa Winterland" at the shopping center was a maze of jig-cut, painted plywood: elves, trees, beribboned gift boxes. We kids wound our way through the line, anticipating our turn for a few moments on Santa's lap. The littlest kids might be crying in their parents' arms. We older kids were brave, informed by years of experience.
At some point, perhaps it was in the Eighties, "luxurious dimension" took-over. Suddenly, all those painted plywood creche characters—staked into the ground, lighted with a clamp-on work light—began to look a little dated. Today, as I'm out hunting for antiques, I occasionally come across these older Christmas decoration relics—now going-on sixty years old. I am often impressed by the love and painterly-attention they continue to express—despite their simple, DIY origins. And, when I compare them to the (awful) inflatable (and illuminated) nylon decorations which litter suburban lawns, I long for that Sixties simplicity.
The set of six highball tumblers, shown above, were screen printed with a Sixties. The simple graphics—red, green and white—illustrate wreaths, bows, poinsettia and bells. Their simple, naive graphics capture perfectly the simplicity of Christmas in the Sixties. Click on the photo above to learn more about them.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248