Heritage

Design Lovers: Help Romeo Find His Juliet Chair

Nick relaxing on the Romeo chair at his home in Surrey. This Valentine’s, Heal’s is looking for love as we attempt to reunite our Romeo and Juliet chairs. One of the great joys of working at Heal’s is reading your enquiries regarding our archive designs. So when Nick’s letter dropped onto our desk we couldn’t help but go all mushy inside. In it he tells the story behind his Romeo chair, bought from Heal’s in 1963 as a wedding gift for his wife Judith and originally sold as a pair alongside the Juliet chair. Over five decades on, Nick is on the hunt for a Juliet for Judith and needs your help. We’re calling on all you design lovers out there to help us reunite these two star-crossed designs. So if you happen to know an owner in Verona or fancy yourself as a vintage design connoisseur, get in touch today by emailing: pressoffice@heals.co.uk Nick's sketch comparing the Romeo and Juliet chairs drawn ‘from memory’. Designed circa 1963, the Romeo and Juliet chairs are typical of the Scandinavian inspired furniture produced by Heal’s during this period. The upholstered shell seat evokes designs from Verner Panton with both pieces resting on a four-pronged metal base that allows the chair to swivel. Each was upholstered in a textured wool weave, the Romeo finished in purple while the Juliet in a vibrant yellow. The Romeo chair at Nick and Judith's Surrey home. Now in their eighties, Nick and Judith reside in a leafy suburb in Sussex. Throughout the 1950s and 60s the pair lived in South Kensington, London where Nick trained as an architect while Judith worked as a music producer at the BBC. It was on the commute to work that they would pass Heal’s Tottenham Court Road store, falling in love with the building and eventually popping in to buy the Romeo chair. The original letter sent to Heal's by Nick.

Heritage

Heal’s Heritage Room: A Journey Through Design

Travel back through 200 years of design history at Heal’s Heritage Room, a new permanent exhibition space within our Tottenham Court Road store. From the introduction of feather filled mattresses to modernist tubular furniture, the revolutionary work of the Mansard Gallery to our part in the Festival of Britain, for over two centuries Heal’s has continued to promote and pioneer all forms of contemporary interior design. The Heal’s Heritage Room brings this story to life with a timeline of our many innovations alongside a selection of antique Heal’s designs all of which are available to purchase - so you can bring a piece of our history home with you. Take the tour today by popping into our flagship store and discover more about Heal’s rich design legacy. Visit Today Back to top

Heritage

Make, Do And Mend: Remembering The Heal's War Effort

To coincide with the new exhibition Lee Miller: A Woman's War, we're looking back to remember the important work of women sewing machinists at Heal's during the Second World War. "A dramatic rise in consumer expenditure was interrupted by the Second World War. Heal's, like so many companies, turned from the manufacture of goods for civilian consumption in peacetime to producing the military equipment needed in a war for Britain's survival," explains Imperial War Museum historian James Taylor. The Workshops on the upper floors were used by machinists for making parachutes for the Ministry of Aircraft Production. By the summer of 1940, space was so tight that the operation spread beyond the workshops into the showrooms, with more sewing machines set up to cope with the demand. Don't forget to enter our competition to win tickets to Lee Miller: A Woman's War at the IWM London plus a night's stay at the Mondrian London at Sea Containers: Enter Now Photographs of women at work in Heal's workshops and showrooms; poster recruiting wartime workers. Further Reading: www.iwm.org.uk Our Heritage Back to top

Heritage

From The Archive: Mid-Century Posters by Charles Feeney

A dose of midweek mid-century from the Heal's archive with original artwork and prints from unsung design hero Charles Feeney. While Heal's is quite rightly celebrated for it's long history of producing and sourcing quality made furniture, a quick delve into the archives reveals a wealth of graphic design and promotional imagery. Perhaps the most iconic of them all are the 1950s poster designs of Charles Feeney, their bold style capturing the optimism of the era and many of which have featured on our vintage series of kitchen linens. Despite having produced some of Heal's most iconic poster designs, Charles Feeney is largely unknown outside of the business and even then information is hard to come by. What we do know is that Feeney's primary role was as in-house display manager for our stores, or as we call it nowadays a Visual Merchandiser, in charge of the window displays and general appearance of the showrooms. While images from the time testify to his great skill in the role, it's his eye-catching poster designs that have left a lasting legacy. Hand drawn and painted before then being screen printed, these rare images reveal the process of each design with visible pencil lines, notes and brush marks alongside six decades of wear and tear. Our Heritage Our Heritage Back to top

Heritage

Child's Play: Ambrose Heal At The Vanda

The latest addition to the V&A’s collection, the Joan Chair is an invaluable piece of Ambrose Heal’s Arts & Crafts design. Dating from 1901, this one-off chair was commissioned by leather tycoon Joseph Angus for his youngest child Joan, and is just one of a number of pieces made by Heal & Son especially for the Angus family. A rare example of Arts & Crafts furniture designed specifically for children, the Joan was crafted from fumed oak within Heal’s workshops on the site of our Tottenham Court Road store. The ecclesiastical style and tall proportions were designed by Ambrose to display the stunning inlay of winged cherubs, lily and rose motifs even in use. Evocative of stain-glass memorials, these intricate decorations were the work of Joan’s oldest sister Christine, a former student at the Slade School of Fine Art and a pupil of the famous painter Walter Sickert, whom she married in 1911. Imagery alone cannot do the craftsmanship and intricate inlay of the Joan any justice. So it’s just as well that the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green have made this rare piece a part of their permanent display for all ages to enjoy. Our Heritage Back to top

Heritage

Remembering Ambrose Heal At The Vanda

The figurehead of British modernism, Sir Ambrose Heal has had a lasting impact on both Heal’s and the design community at large. In a special talk at the esteemed V&A museum, his grandson the writer Oliver Heal will be exploring the life and work of Ambrose Heal from his pioneering Arts & Crafts furniture to his pivotal role in founding the UK Design Council. During his time as director at Heal’s, Ambrose brought well designed contemporary furniture to the masses. Not only did he introduce London’s homes to the Art Deco and Modernist movements but was also the first in Britain to exhibit works by Picasso and Modigliani at Heal’s infamous Mansard gallery. With such a rich history to choose from this talk promises to be a fascinating and insightful evening. Visit the V&A’s events page to book your tickets. When: Tuesday 17th November 2015, 18:30 – 20:00 Where: The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, V&A Museum Discover more about our heritage.