Tanks & Tablecloths Index: Utility furniture

Courtesy of Design Council/DHRC, University of Brighton

While trawling the interweb in search of some cheap, dour period pieces for my own home, I came across Utility Furniture, issued by permit in WW2 to those most deserving. Designed by luminaries of the time, such as Gordon Russell, the furniture served to utilise scarce resources in the most effective way, whilst also bringing 'good design' to the masses. However, the designs became ever associated in the public mind with wartime austerity and the Utility programme was abandoned in 1952, as the consumer boom began in earnest.