Loughborough Walnut Chest Of Drawers Designed 1955 By Jacques Groag

A lovely stylish chest of drawers in walnut and beech made by Loughborough Furniture and designed by Jacques Groag. Our recent research at The British Library discovered an advert for this design from early 1955 with description. Loughborough were a well known maker at the time and sold through Heals and other progressive stores. They used outside designers at the time such as Ward and Austin, but this is by the emigre Austrian architect and designer Jacques Groag who along with his wife Jacqueline escaped to Britain just before the start of the 2nd World War. We’ve had the model once before and at the time didn’t know who it was made by as they rarely labelled their pieces. At this date traditional cabinet making techniques were still used by good makers like Loughborough so it’s not only very stylish, but it is also really well made. This was a progressive design at a time when most people were buying more traditional pieces so it will have been sold in fairly small numbers. The advert says ” Made in straight grained walnut with beech legs and moulding ” We bought it along with a matching wardrobe and dressing table from the family of the original owners. ConditionCleaned and oiled, it’s looking really nice with no obvious marks or scratches, just some small knocks to the legs which you have to expect along with some minor signs of wear after some 70 years of use NotesJacques Groag is today not as well known as he he was in the 1950’s when he was an influential designer. We’ve not only rediscovered this design which he have had once before, but also a couple of rare pieces he designed for Meredew. His wife Jacqueline was a successful pattern designer particularly for fabrics, but today she is best known for some lovely designs for Warerite which were used on coffee and kitchen tables which appear for sale from time to time. Loughborough Manufacturing Co were a long established maker in the 1950’s, but seem to have disappeared in the early 1960’s possibly due to competition from larger makers such as G Plan, Meredew, Stag and others. Anyone with any information about them can you please get in contact.