The Twentieth Century Society

Campaigning for outstanding buildings

C20 Christmas Gift Ideas 2020

Bevin Court Stairwell, Islington, London by Berthold Lubetkin, 1951-54

Thaddeus Zupančič

Our Christmas 2020 Gift List features ideas from our own C20 Society shop and from like-minded organisations that offer C20 architecture and design inspired products that we think you’ll enjoy. We have included items that focus on some of our past casework campaigns. Browse our list below for books, prints, cards and much more.

2. Concrete flower vases by Tipoii

Where better to pop your festive flowers in than a concrete vase made by Tipoii Studio, a contemporary product design studio based between Bangalore and London. They are pushing the boundaries of Indian craft and believe that ‘design is seen as a bi-product of living.’ This unassuming approach, with an emphasis on a quiet functionality, is what inspires and drives their creative process. The vases remind us of the Gawthorpe Water Tower whose listing application we are supporting.

3. Art Deco in Britain Book by Elain Harwood

If you enjoy 1930s architecture and missed Elain Harwood’s sold-out lecture about Art Deco earlier this year, this beautifully illustrated book is for you. Nearly a century after Art Deco first lit up the luxury store and cinema screen, it remains as glamorous as ever. The style – variously known as Jazz Modern or moderne until the 1960s – was transported by ocean liner across the world from its origins in Vienna and Paris, offering a slick of sophistication and succinct design to rich and poor alike.

The Art Deco Hoover Building, Grade II*

Wallis Gilbert & Partners,  1933

A plaster model of Willow Road by Erno Goldfinger

Chisel & Mouse

8. C20 Architects Book: Arup Associates by Kenneth Powell

Written by a former director of C20 Society, this 2018 monograph discusses the work of the engineering firm from the years of the Arup Building Group in the 1950s to the 1990s and assesses the contribution of its leading designers, including Sir Philip Dowson, Derek Sugden and Peter Foggo. The text is based on interviews with many former and current members of the practice. The book is fully illustrated with images from the Arup archive and stunning new photography offering a new perspective on an exceptional body of work.

Southbank Magenta Linocut, 2002

Paul Catherall

11. Frank Lloyd Wright Kirigami

If you were booked on our sadly cancelled C20 Chicago trip earlier in May you may like this set of FLW paper models by Mark Hagan-Guirey. Featuring step-by-step instructions, you follow the lines on the template, cutting and folding to make your own model. All you need is a scalpel, a cutting mat and a ruler. Clear cutting tips help you with the tricky stages, while photos of the finished model show you the final design. To make things easier, the most intricate parts of the templates are pre-die-cut.

14. C20 Architects Book: The Churches of F. X. Velarde

A great gift for anyone interested in Church architecture. Velarde loved patterns, bold colour and gold. The Catholic churches he built in Liverpool and London are closer to European Expressionism than International Modernism; many of them have a toy like quality and come with a campanile like a rocket. Today his buildings seem fresh and playful, but also poignant as they evoke the 1950s, brightening the drab parts in which they are to be found and serving to make both spiritually and architecturally aware those who visit. Re-watch our virtual event with Dominic Wilkinson on our Lectures page.

Many of Velarde’s churches are currently threatened and have been published here for the first time.

18. Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains

This book is the perfect present for anyone fascinated by movie villains. You may remember it from one of our first virtual events with its author Chad Oppenheim. He explores architecturally splendid lairs including Atlantis in The Spy Who Loved Me to Nathan Bateman’s ultra-modern abode in Ex Machina and shows these homes are much more than where the megalomaniacs go to get some rest. Instead, they are places where evil is plotted and where the heroes are tested and must prove themselves. See for yourself how lairs are stunningly designed, sophisticated, envy-inducing expressions of the warped drives and desires of their occupants.

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