Carlisle Civic Centre bauble made by Absolutely Nice Vintage and Studio Walden

Absolutely Nice Vintage with the help of Studio Walden, both businesses based in Carlisle, have produced a retro style glass bauble of the city’s Civic Centre building, with a limited run of 500 hand painted baubles due to be released in October.

Damian Sealey and Mark Howlette, owners of Absolutely Nice Vintage, sell vintage furniture and homeware online from their studio in Atlas Works, Carlisle.

“A couple of years ago we had the idea to produce local Carlisle landmark baubles as this nostalgic style of Christmas product has become increasingly popular,” said Mark.

“We chose the Civic Centre to launch this project as it is one of only a few examples of Brutalist Mid-20th Century architecture within our region and deserves to be celebrated as part of the city’s wide and varied history.”

Carlisle Civic Centre as it used to look (Image: Absolutely Nice Vintage)“We’ve always loved the building, but it is particularly meaningful to celebrate it in this way as my Dad worked as an architect in the building from 1975 until 1995” said Damian.

“I can’t imagine he would have thought the building he worked in back in the seventies would have been hanging on a Christmas tree in 2022”.

While Mark and Damian have always admired the building, doing their research for the project highlighted the importance of the structure even more.

Damian said: “After researching the building we came across a plethora of wonderful photographs and news articles, which made us appreciate even more how modern and exciting this style of architecture must have been at the time.

The Civic Centre baubles will be on sale from 3rd October 2022 priced at £15.00 each and will be available to purchase from absolutelynice.co.uk, the Absolutely Nice Vintage showroom, Ashbridge & Brown, Tullie House Museum and Carlisle Tourist Information Centre.

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