Pelişor Castle is the only architectural ensemble in Romania whose Arts and Crafts, Secessionist and Neo-Romanian interiors survive almost intact, despite the tribulations of the communist period. Situated near Peleş Castle in Sinaia, around 140 km north of Bucharest, this royal residence occupies a distinct place among turn-of-the-century European palaces. Although its exterior echoes the Germanic style of other buildings on the Peleș royal estate, its interior offers an ‘artistic textbook’ of British-born Queen Marie’s original experiments in interior decoration and furniture design. Over the course of 30 years, from 1899–1929, Marie worked closely with the Czech architect Karel Liman and the Austrian furniture designer Bernhard Ludwig to create a series of remarkable rooms. They demonstrate the influence of British Arts and Crafts ideas, Art Nouveau and Secessionist design, the Neo-Byzantine style and (after the First World War) the Neo-Romanian style. The palace thus bears fascinating material witness to Marie’s changing ideas about the nature of her royal role.
Macrina Oproiu
In 1891, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths founded a new educational institute at New Cross. In its first decade or so, the Art School at Goldsmiths was one of the most successful in the country, noted especially for the achievements of its women students in the annual National Competition of schools of art and design. As teacher of design at Goldsmiths, Amor Fenn was a key figure in this success story. Although little known today, he was a prolific and successful designer, particularly of architectural metalwork. An archive of material from his studio has recently become available, shedding new light on his work, career and professional connections. Further research has revealed more about Goldsmiths’ women students, including the work by Katherine Coggin and Hilda Pemberton, early designers of Cymric silver for Liberty & Co.
Stephen Pudney
This article traces the life and work of Amy Kotzé (1884–1976), a multiskilled artist and gallerist working across fashion, embroidery, ceramics, craft and design. Kotzé moved in influential circles at a pivotal moment in women’s history during the early 20th century but, like many women operating small, independent businesses that leave few material traces, she is little known. By reconstructing her personal and professional biography, I hope to place her back alongside some of her better-known contemporaries.
Rachel Conroy
Much of the avant-garde, European-influenced, modernist furniture designed and manufactured in Britain during the 1930s has been well documented and exhibited, with a focus invariably falling on two related enterprises: Jack Pritchard and Wells Coates’s Isokon company (which commenced manufacturing furniture in 1933) and Gerald Summers’s Makers of Simple Furniture (established 1931–32). However, this is only part of a more complex story as Bauhaus-influenced, rational design was not the only European avant-garde style to make its way across the English Channel. In 1931 The Betula Ltd., a small woodworking company was established in London, producing furniture influenced by the design ideas of the Austrian philosopher architect, occultist, and educational reformer Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). The expressionist furniture they manufactured exemplified ‘anthroposophical’ design, a term coined by Steiner from ‘anthropo’ (human) and ‘sophia’ (wisdom). This was an all-encompassing approach to design and architecture evolving from the wider spiritual movement founded by Steiner that is part philosophy, part mysticism, and is focused on an intellectual and creative pursuit of the spiritual world.
Tony Peart
In their book, From Palaces to Pre-Fabs: Pioneering British Woman Interior Decorators and Designers (2017), Ruth Artmonsky and Stella Harpley assert that many early women interior designers, ‘were decidedly amateur, relying on their self-confidence, energy, class confidence and social networks, rather than technical know-how and skills which became necessary to meet the requisite standards for membership’ of professional bodies like the British Institute of Interior Decorators, and the Design and Industries Association. Women were excluded from membership of the Institute until after World War I, and few if any women served on the governing committees of professional bodies. Women began to emerge onto the design scene in the 1920s. Some, such as Syrie Maugham and Dolly Mann, began interior decorating businesses, while others opened galleries in London selling ‘good taste’ in the form of crafts and selected mass-produced objects. The furniture designer and manufacturer Betty Joel opened her first workshop on Hayling Island in 1924. With the greater freedoms afforded them as an outcome of the War, women such as Marian Speyer gained the confidence to enter such male-dominated professions. This paper tells her story, taking into account her family background, her training, her business and the designs she produced, and the adverse effects of war on her career.
Duane Kahlhamer
Drawing on information and memories gathered from the unpublished memoir and recorded oral history of studio potter Ursula Mommens, this article will explore the earlier part of her extended career. Although women had long held roles in the production of industrial ceramics, Ursula Mommens was one of the first generation of women to receive formal training in the production of handmade pots and in successfully exhibiting them, helped to demonstrate that women were capable of mastering form, as well as colour and decoration. This article will situate her among some of the major proponents of studio pottery in Britain during the interwar period and contextualise her artistic practice in the light of differing factions and approaches to handmade ceramics. Most importantly, it will celebrate the work of this determined woman artist, who fashioned her own place in the ever-evolving arena of studio pottery in Britain.
Helen Ritchie
