Grace and Loren, 1997
This photo of me and my Mum was taken during her first full year in England. She came over from the Philippines to raise me here. I always remember how she said that she was disappointed in my Dad’s drab sense of home decor when she first moved in – and the fact that even though it was the 1990s, he only had a black-and-white television! My Dad says the flowering plant on the left grew from a bulb given to him in 1981 by a friend from work, so by the time the photo was taken it had been going strong for over a decade. I love the way my Mum seems to be admiring her reflection in the teaspoon that I’m holding, and I love the pops of colour the image has in contrast with the wall behind. My Dad always says he’s no skilled photographer but there’s something really special about this one! – Loren Hardy
Hattytown Tales Wallpaper, 1978
The wallpaper was based on a cartoon called “Hattytown Tales” from the late 1960s/early 1970s. The “Hattytown” photograph was taken on the 24th of September 1978, in Elm Grove, Sale, my first owner-occupied home which I bought in 1976. The previous owner had two young children and the wallpaper was in what had been their bedroom; I converted it into a photographic darkroom and just left the wallpaper as it was. The boy in the photograph was a member of my aeroplane-spotters’ club. – Peter Hardy
Images: Peter B Hardy
Editor’s note – This wallpaper is in the Whitworth’s wallpaper collection! See it here.
OPEN HOUSE 