Back in 2010, we started acquiring inventory for the store we planned to open in early 2011. We lucked upon a local auction house importing English teak pieces, which routinely went at a price we could afford. In the early days of the store, they were our bread and butter. A few were marked G-Plan or Remploy, but most weren't marked at all, and we never identified the majority of them.
As the store grew, our clientele began requesting more Danish pieces. At that same time, more and more people found out about the auction, and the prices they were getting skyrocketed. Even so, the auction house went out of business, so we said goodbye to the English pieces without ever learning much about them.
Recently I was surprised and delighted to run across an article about Frank Guille (1926-1997) and find out that he designed many of the pieces we sold in the early days of Mid2Mod. In the 1940s, Guille trained under Robin Day and John Cole at the Beckenham School of Art. After serving in the Royal Navy, he studied furniture design at the Royal College of Art under Gordon Russell. He received a scholarship in 1950 to travel to Copenhagen to work with Kaare Klint.
Guille set up his on design practice in 1953, boasting clients such as Heal and Sons, West of Scotland and Austinsuite. His strongest body of work was for Kandya, who commissioned him to restyle a stacking chair, which had been designed by Carl Jacobs in 1950. The redesigned Jason chair was so successful that Guille worked with Kandya until 1976. While there, he designed a range of modular Trimma kitchen units of exceptional quality.
From 1960 to 1992, Guille was at the Royal College of Art, first as a lecturer, then as a senior lecturer and finally as head of the Furniture Design department.
From homespunvintagedesign.co.uk
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| Desk for Austinsuite ebay.co.uk - doorfortyfour |
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| Stools vintageretro.co.uk |
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| Record cabinet for Kandya lawsonpark.org |
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| Jason chair ebay.co.uk - lovelyandcompany |
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| Credenza mrbigglesworthy.co.nz |
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| Barstools for Kandya liveauctioneers.com |
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| Console for Austinsuite fearsandkahn.co.uk |
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| Austinsuite sideboard ebay.com - eclectic-rooms-design |
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| Trimma cabinets for Kandya ebay.com - firest4r |
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| Room divider sworder.co.uk |
Great pieces Dana. Love the stools, and the Credenza and Sideboard.
ReplyDeleteWe sold a ton of those credenzas and sideboards when we first opened for business! At the very, very beginning, we were getting them for $50-100 at the local auction and selling them for $300-400. By the time we quit carrying teak pieces like this from the UK, they were bringing $500-700 at the same auction.
DeleteAs always, fabulous eye candy! Love it all, but love the Jason chair and the console best.
ReplyDeleteI love that Jason chair too.
DeleteJust delicious! I mean it, they made my mouth water just looking at their loveliness.
ReplyDeleteThey were fun to sell too!
DeleteI kept scrolling ... waiting for a blahhh piece... and there' wasn't one! They're ALL gorgeous. The little record cabinet is too cute and the credenza's are to die for. The trimma cabinets remind me so much of all the built-ins that were in our home when we bought it. Of course NONE of them were this beautifully built but the sliders and drawers inside are oh-so-familiar. Love seeing it all. You guys have the best inventory... then, and now!
ReplyDeleteThese were really nice pieces for the money in the early days. The craftsmanship wasn't quite as top-notch as you'd find in, say, a Wegner piece, but they were a great way for us to get into the business, and lots of our customers were able to buy very pretty pieces at a low price.
DeleteMost of all, I love the yellow cabinet!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that fun?
DeleteGorgeous, Dana! How great that you solved the mystery, there's no greater feeling! I adore the brightly colored stools, the room divider and the console with the yellow front!
ReplyDeleteThose are such cheery pieces!
DeleteThe stools. In my imaginary remodeled kitchen, they would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteYou might as well go ahead and do the kitchen. It's completely planned already. :)
DeleteHello, are you selling any Kandya Bar stools?
ReplyDelete