Designers | Royal Designers for Industry & Britain Can Make It, 1946

Royal Designers for Industry & Britain Can Make It, 1946

Christian Barman

Architect and Industrial Designer (1898-1980) Christian August Barman was born on 13th September 1898 in Berkshire to Norwegian parents. He was educated on the continent before attending the University of Liverpool School of Architecture, where he studied under Sir Charles Reilly. In the early 1930s he edited successively The Architect’s Journal and The Architectural Review. A Fellow of the…

Misha Black

Architect and Industrial Designer (1910- 1977) Born in Baku, Russia on 16th October 1910 his family moved to London when Misha Black was eighteen months old. Educated at the Dame Alice Owen School in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, he then took evening classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and studied briefly in Paris…

Reco Capey

Artist and Industrial Designer (1895-1961) Capey worked as a junior designer for Doulton pottery while attending the School of Art in his home town of Burslem as a day release student. He then studied at the Royal College of Art from 1919 to 1922 as well as exploring design in France, Italy and Sweden. In…

Susie Cooper

Potter (1902-1995) Susan [Susie] Vera Cooper was born in Staffordshire on 29th October 1902. She attended a private school in Hanley, which she left in 1917 to help with the family farm and retail business, but she carried on her drawing education by enrolling for evening classes at Burslem School of Art. Two years later…

Gordon Cullen

Architect and Planner (1914-1944) Following his family’s move from their Yorkshire home to London in 1930 Thomas Gordon Cullen attended the Regent Street Polytechnic (now University of Westminster) where he studied architecture and draughtmanship and showed much promise, in spite of being blind in one eye. Fellow students included another future Royal Designer for Industry…

Lucienne Day

Textile Designer (1917-2010) Desiree Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie Conradi was born in Coulsdon, Surrey on 5th January 1917. She studied at Woodford School, Croydon, where she was encouraged to go to Croydon School of Art (1934-1937), and there met Peter Werner, who introduced her to the ideas of the Bauhaus School and Swedish design. She continued…

Thomas Eckersley

Poster artist and design teacher (1914-1997) Poster artist and design teacher Thomas (Tom) Eckersley was born in 1914 at Newton le Willows, Lancashire and educated at Salford College of Art where he was awarded the Heywood medal for best student. He, and a fellow student, Eric Lombers, set up in partnership and moved to London…

Barnett Freedman

Artist and Designer (1901-1958) The son of Russian Jewish emigrés, Barnett Freedman was born in London on 19th May 1901. Due to persistent ill health Freedman had hardly any schooling, and from the age of nine he spent most of his time in hospital. He read widely, taught himself to draw and to play the…

Abram Games

Graphic Designer (1914-1996) The son of émigré Russian Jews, Abram Games always considered himself a cockney as he was born within the sound of Bow Bells on 29th July 1914. At the age of eleven his school report stated that his drawing skills were weak. When he persuaded his parents to allow him to leave…

James Gardner

Designer and Graphic Artist (1907-1995) Leslie James Gardner was born in Hendon on 29th December 1907. Awarded a scholarship Gardner attended Westminster School of Art where he was taught by future HonRDI, E. McKnight Kauffer. Apprenticed to Cartiers of Bond Street from 1923 Gardner worked for them until 1929 and then spent most of the…

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