TIMEFORTEATOWELSissue1december2011

Keep the tea towel flyingWhat’s in a tea towel?Tied to your apron Say it with cards

The Radical Tea Towel Company

TIMEFORTEATOWELSissue1december2011

Published by the Radical Tea Towel Company, 7 Romilly Road, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan CF62 6AZ.©2011 The Radical Tea Towel Company

The Radical Tea Towel Company offers traditional kitchenware with a radical twist. We are a family-owned, UK-based internet company supplying quality products throughout the world.

We’ve taken a traditional kitchen product, the tea towel (or dish towel as they call it in America), and spiced it up with some imaginative designs. Departing from the usual flowers

and basic border designs you’ll find in most people’s kitchens, we’ve used some of modern history’s most radical ideas and thinkers as our inspiration.

Like us, our product suppliers are UK-based, minimising the carbon footprint of our stock ordering.

Our tea towels & aprons are made using water based inks with virtually no environmental impact and the cleaning processes used are environmentally safe. Waste products from fabrics, card etc are recycled or disposed of responsibly according to current legislation. We are assured that no child labour is used in the mills that provide the cotton and the employment standards are good.

Our greetings cards are printed on recyclable board using environmentally friendly inks.

We hope you enjoy our products and we welcome feedback including ideas for new designs.

www.radicalteatowel.com

Contents

Page 3 .......We’ll keep the tea towel flying here

Page 5 .......Uses of the tea towel

Page 6 .......The range: tea towels

Page 7 .......The range: aprons

Page 8 .......Thea range: greetings cards

Product informationTea towels: 100% premium cotton. Stitched on all four sides. Measures approximately 48 x 76cm. Machine wash at 40 degrees max. We recommend that before you use your tea towel for the first time you wash it at least once to soften up the material and make it more absorbent for drying dishes.

Aprons: adult size apron in 100% premium cotton with adjustable neck loop. Measures approximately 85 x 60cm excluding ties. Machine wash at 40 degrees max.

Greetings cards: measure approx 105mm wide x 148mm deep (A6) and envelopes measure approx 162mm wide x 114mm deep (C6).

Since we humans first emerged from the primeval swamps we’ve needed to keep our cooking utensils dry. No wonder we’ve

developed such a fascination with that most fundamental of accessories, the tea towel - or dish towel as they call it (more logically) in the US.

Fast forward to the 18th century. The tea towel has reached the pinnacle of its perfection (never again to be matched until the arrival on the scene of the Radical Tea Towel Company in the 21st century).

Tea towels are now gracing the highest tables of the land and are made of linen, a delicate fibre derived from the flax of linseed plants. The soft texture of the fabric makes them ideal for drying expensive bone china, and tea towels are flourished with pride by the grand ladies of the time who are more than happy to do the drying up, not trusting their prized plates to their clumsy servants.

When not drying their crockery, these ladies would embroider the towels, creating beautiful heirlooms to be passed down through the generations. In today’s more democratic times,

WE’LL KEEPTHE TEA TOWELFLYING HERE

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the Radical Tea Towel Company is pleased to be able to bring fine tea towels to the masses.

Made of linen, tea towels in those days were fragile - they needed to be washed very carefully and dried away from the glare of the sun. Fortunately for today’s crockery dryers, the Radical Tea Towel Company’s products are made of far tougher and durable high-grade cotton.

True to its name, the tea towel was in its element as an ingredient in the great British tea ceremony. There it rubbed shoulders with the finest crystal and chinaware and was designed to match the rest of the table linen. Often it was wrapped around the tea pot to insulate it, used to prevent drips or gracefully draped over bread and cakes to keep them fresh.

It was not until the Industrial Revolution that the tea towel became a mass-produced consumer item and manufacturers turned to fibres such as cotton.

In the early 20th century, American housewives

- in good democratic tradition - would often reuse rough cotton animal feed sacks by cutting them up into dish towels. Not content with their unfinished appearance, however, they embroidered them with intricate patterns, despite the difficulty of working with the coarse weave of the sacks.

In modern times, tea towels can be made of cotton, linen union (a mixture of linen and cotton) or terrycloth, a thick cotton pile (with the emphasis perhaps more on the ‘towel’ than on the ‘tea’).

Still an object of fascination in the 21st century, the tea towel has become the canvas on which we paint our life and our obsessions. At the Radical Tea Towel Company we use the finest materials and printing techniques and combine them with bold messages. The results are unique tea towels and aprons that you will want to keep or give as presents to rally family, friends and relatives to the cause! n

“Still an object of fascination in the 21st century, the tea towel has become the canvas on which we paint our life and our obsessions.”

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WHAT’S IN ATEA TOWEL?

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The tea/dish towel must be one of the most flexible items there is. No doubt your first thought is “here’s something to dry the

dishes with”. But that would be to overlook the huge range of other uses to which tea towels have been put over the years.

The most unusual and distinguished of these must be as a canvas by none other than the great Van Gogh. Late in his career, the impoverished genius often ran out of conventional canvas, which was anyway expensive. He would write to his brother, Theo, imploring him to send more, but in the meantime painted on whatever came to hand. And if that was a tea towel, so be it. In fact, some of his works seem to be painted on tea towels with a red border - perhaps they came from the kitchen of the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers where he was staying at the time? A still life with flowers by Van Gogh, painted on a tea towel, fetched £2.1m at auction in 2000. So keep hold of your Radical Tea Towel - you never know, it could pay you back handsomely one day.

Not all of us can aspire to be great painters, of

course. But we can still use our imaginations to put our tea towels to new uses: what about as a shepherd’s head dress in your child’s Nativity play? Or peg one to a stick and wave it on your next demonstration? Knotted at each corner, a tea towel should offer a lot more protection from the sun than a mere handkerchief; or fold it in two, sew up two sides and put some handles on - you’ve got a handy little bag-for-life which supermarkets will be condemned to credit you shopping points for. The possibilities and fun are endless. Why not let us know if you dream up a particularly radical use?

And, of course, you could always use it for the purpose for which it was designed - as a kitchen accessory. A bright new tea towel from the Radical Tea Towel Company will bring a welcome breath of fresh air to any kitchen. And remember to tread softly when you buy our tea towels: don’t just throw out your old ones. Why not cut them up into dishcloths or floor cloths instead and help reduce your carbon footprint?

WHAT’S IN ATEA TOWEL?

www.radicalteatowel.com

6 HOME ON THE RANGEKeep Left tea towelA bold yet simple design that should strike a chord with all drivers, especially those who watch Top Gear...Price: £8.00

Carbon Footprint tea towelA beautiful line from W B Yeats says it all: “Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams.”Price: £8.00

Che Guevara tea towelThose immortal dying words: “Dispara cobarde. Solo vas a matar a un hombre.” (Shoot, coward, you’re only going to kill a man.)Price: £8.00

Bankers tea towelWant to vent all your wrath against the bankers whilst letting someone know how much you love them? Here’s the perfect gift.Price: £8.00

Communist Founding Fathers tea towelThe old firm, back in business.Price: £8.00

Aung San Suu Kyi tea towel“In an authoritarian state it is only the prisoner of conscience who is genuinely free.”Price: £8.00

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Nelson Mandela tea towel“If people can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”Price: £8.00

Mahatma Gandhi tea towel“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”Price: £8.00

Free Scotland tea towelWith recent political events in Scotland, independence could be just round the corner. Best be prepared to dry the dishes after the festivities.Price: £8.00

Keep Left apronWhy not show your political colours whilst you’re preparing that raspberry crumble?Price: £12.00

Bankers apronThe perfect wear for serving up something extra special to your banker friends.Price: £12.00

Keep Left greetings cardCard and red envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

HOME ON THE RANGE

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8 HOME ON THE RANGE

Carbon Footprint greetings cardCard and light green envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

Che Guevara greetings cardCard and red envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

Bankers greetings cardCard and cream envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

Communist Founding Fathers greetings cardCard and red envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

Aung Sang Suu Kyi greetings cardCard and carmine envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

Nelson Mandela greetings cardCard and orange envelope. Blank inside.Available as single, price £0.60, or pack of 8, price £4.

www.radicalteatowel.com