Saturday 31 January 2009

Scooterworks and vintage hairdryer lamps

Last night I went to Scooterworks, my new favourite bar/cafe. It started off selling scooters, until the owners bought a 1957 Faema espresso machine to serve coffee to their scooter customers. Their solitary coffee machine acquired a loyal following, and now it is a full-blown bar/cafe which has moved its scooter premises to another part of town. I'm pretty tame so I had a hot chocolate - but it was proper and delicious Italian hot chocolate. The cafe is decorated with stylish vintage scooter and Italian memorabilia like the Vespa sign above.



If you look closely you can see that at the very back, there is a lamp which is made from a vintage hairdryer, the type you sat under to set your 1980s perm?

Originally I wanted this to be a whole post about vintage hairdryers repurposed into lamps (it's not always wise to share favourite coffee shop secrets - I need to get a seat) but I couldn't find many images. Does anyone know what the technical term is for one of these hairdryers-on-a-stand, because I'm sure that's what was holding me back from any great image success. Still, I was pleased to at least find this one. I think it is one seriously stylish lamp.

If you are interested in other lamps which are made from non-standard shades, check out these brilliant birdcage chandeliers and 'typelighters' (ie typewriter + light, but I suppose you all knew that). There are lots more ideas for repurposed lamps here, where I found the above lamp, which include using old Hoovers, cake stands and galvinised steel buckets.


Scooterworks is at 132 Lower Marsh, London, SE1 7AE. It is actually a great little street, with a fantastic Cuban restaurant called Cubana, and lots of vintage shops.

Scooterworks Cafe photos via Scooterworks Flickr set.

9 comments:

Reed li said...

I'm so surprise that you like tea, because most of UK or US like coffee, just little people like tea. I come from china, nice to meet you in blogger. Tea is very popular in china, maybe we can talking about tea. my email is lilq87@qq.com.

Char said...

what a cool little hangout! I would love it.

Anonymous said...

This place looks amazing! What's the address? xx

Lynne said...

I just added the address to the post - you should go! It's just behind Waterloo station.

Brittany | the Home Ground said...

Oh my gosh, this place look so cool! Don't worry, it would be a pretty long trek for me...

c said...

i want to go there

c said...

i want to go there

Anonymous said...

What an amazing spot! Seriously, each time I visit your blog, I find it harder and harder not to become an expat :)

As you know, I share your love for repurposed lighting! I believe the stand-up hairdryer is simply called a salon style hairdryer. I'm currently attempting to turn a handheld pink vintage hairdryer into a table lamp, although the wiring is not being friendly.

Thank you so much for the wonderful surprise I enjoyed when I clicked on your post's link and landed on my own blog!

Anonymous said...

Oh no, don't show this to my mother in law! Even though she is 55 years old and kind of a big gal, she's obsessed with wanting one of these little scooters. I can't quite picture it myself, but she claims that it's just up her alley!

they really are spunky though, aren't they?