What was utility furniture

Will we even have furniture? Or will be forced to refer to the neolithic tribes of Skara Brae and their intuitive and innovative use of stone? However it may not come that far, for, and despite whatever other deficits and callowness it has, Whitehall does have experience in securing the supply of furniture in times of national emergency: the Utility Furniture Scheme of the s…….

And as a general rule are gradual; but occasionally, very, very occasionally, they are much more sudden. Following the issuing of the general Control of Timber Order in September , a series of further orders relating specifically to furniture were issued, and which for all set ever tighter limits on the amount of wood available for furniture production.

By , only remained unengaged in some form of war work. Furniture remained however a necessity. And thus a necessity and shortage which, inevitably, combined to advance a climate of profiteering and exploitation. Times of national emergency not necessarily being all about social cohesion and unity, despite what the flag wavers may have you believe. As the intensity of the war increased, including, as David Peck notes 8 , a rise in, and increasing efficiency of, German submarine attacks on the Atlantic Fleet and the consequent reduction in supplies, including chlorinate chicken timber, reaching the UK from the Americas, restrictions on the supply of wood for furniture become ever stricter, and in November were limited to those manufacturers producing from a list of 22 prescribed items.

The situation however continued to escalate, not least in early when the plywood used for Standard Emergency Furniture was assigned exclusively for the production of aircraft, 9 leading in May to questions being raised in the House of Commons concerning possible arrangements for the supply of good, affordable furniture 10 ; before in July the Utility Furniture Scheme was formally announced. Following a brief commissioning and consultation process, January saw the publication of the first Utility Furniture catalogue, the majority of the objects designed by Edwin Clinch, in-house designer with High Wycombe based manufacturer Goodearl Brothers, and Herbert Cutler from Wycombe Technical Institute, and supplemented by existing designs 12 , including an Windsor chair design from High Wycombe based manufacturer Ercol; and a collection which as of January represented the only furniture objects manufacturers were allowed to produce, and whose distribution, sale and price was equally firmly under central Government control.

Despite such success, the Utility Furniture Scheme was formally wound up on January 21st 15 and furniture manufacturers were once again free to produce and sell what they wanted how they wanted. Pre-war furniture in Britain was still largely, and generalising to the point of inaccuracy, of the classic, representative, faux , type, complete with cabriole legs, Queen Anne and Jacobean silhouettes and ornate decoration; in addition manufacturers tended to offer a limitless choice of variations on a particular item, regularly offering retailers their own exclusive versions of particular models, each piece individually made to order 17 , a thus a system of manufacture that although largely relying on pre-produced components, was far removed from mass, serial, production.

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Sign up About our privacy policy. Follow us Opens a new window Opens a new window Opens a new window Opens a new window. Opens in a new window. The National Archives, Kew. By it had become apparent that the combination of a severe lack of timber suitable for furniture making in which Britain was not self-sufficient and the increased demand for new furniture due to the losses of housing caused by bombing and to the continuing establishment of new households after marriage, had created a severe furniture shortage.

The Utility Furniture Advisory Committee was set up in , drawing on considerable expertise, principally Gordon Russell and Ernest Clench , also Herman Lebus and John Gloag , in order to assure that the scarce available resources were used in a sensible way. New furniture was rationed and was restricted to newly-weds and people who had been bombed out, under the "Domestic Furniture Control of Manufacture and Supply No 2 Order " operative from 1 November The Committee produced a number of approved designs, published in the Utility Furniture Catalogue of The aim was to ensure the production of strong well-designed furniture making the most efficient use of the scarce timber.

The designs were largely in the tradition of the Arts and Crafts movement , and were severe in their simplicity and lack of ornamentation, entirely contrary to popular taste of the immediate pre-war period. Furniture based on these designs was constructed by about firms around the country. Given the huge number of individual manufacturers involved, it is perhaps not surprising that quality varied enormously.

The Committee were genuine believers in the aesthetic qualities of their designs.