The Millinery Works GALLERY

AMBROSE HEAL:

PIONEERING ARTS & CRAFTS DESIGN 

AND FINE CRAFTSMANSHIP.

November 1 - 19 2006  Presented by the Antique Trader

Sir Ambrose Heal (1872-1959) (To view exhibits follow this link)

It was William Morris himself who wrote that one could justify making both simple work-a-day furniture as well as more exotic decorated furniture. The former should be good citizen’s furniture, solid and well made… simple to the last degree, whilst the latter which I think is proper even for a citizen may be made as elegant and elaborate as we can with carving, inlaying or painting. Sir Ambrose Heal, whose work this exhibition celebrates was described, by Robert Harling, as the man who made a practical thing out of the romantic theories of William Morris. Heal made simple, well-constructed, functional furniture available to a wider public, but he also produced more elaborate designs particularly for special exhibitions.

Heal’s career was a powerful demonstration of the influential, creative role that a talented and determined shopkeeper can play. Everything in the business underwent the same rigorous scrutiny, whether it was the merchandise selection, the layout and wording of the advertisements, the graphics or the design of the showrooms themselves. The pursuit of the ideal of ‘Fitness for Purpose’ lead to the creation of a Heal style that increasingly, in the early years of the twentieth century, was based on exclusive merchandise designs that were not available elsewhere. These ranged from carpets designed by C.F.A. Voysey, through recreations of eighteenth century Wedgwood and Spode ceramics, to special bedroom suites from small workshops in the area (such as Coote, Mansfield, Cooper, Bianco) as well as from bigger manufacturers farther afield (such as Shapland & Petter or Lebus).

After training as a cabinet maker, and a short spell with a large London furnishing firm, Ambrose Heal joined the family bedding business in London’s Tottenham Court Road in 1893. Introduced by his cousin, Cecil Brewer, the architect, to the passionate discussions about reviving and unifying the arts held by members of the Art Workers’ Guild and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, Ambrose was soon inspired to design furniture himself in the spirit of the movement. But, when he came up with ideas for whole bedroom suites, he had to look outside the firm to get them made as the craftsmen in the bedding factory were not cabinet makers as such. In 1897 his first three bedroom furniture suite designs (222 St Ives, 216 Newlyn, 217 Bushey) were manufactured by C.R. Ashbee’s Guild of Handicrafts workshops in London’s Mile End Road and sold through the Heal shop in Tottenham Ct Rd. But this did not satisfy the young Ambrose because, in order to simplify the process of getting his own designs made exactly as he wanted them, Heal wished to control directly his own production facility and managed to persuade his family to invest in men, machinery and premises and set up their own ‘Cabinet Factory’. 

He was also very fortunate in being able to persuade C.V. Adams, the Guild of Handicrafts’ foreman cabinet maker, to join him to run it, a position Adams held until his retirement twenty eight years later.

Although this factory was promoted at the time as being equipped with the latest labour-saving electrical machinery this was in fact limited to a circular saw and a planer, so that by today’s standards, one can say that everything made in the Heal workshop was hand-made. Timber would just have been cut to rough size and planed square by machine before being passed to the makers for all the rest of the work to be done in the time-honoured fashion. One only has to look at the fine ‘London’ dovetails of the drawer-fronts and notice the tell-tale signs of the cabinet maker’s marking gauge to appreciate the quality of the work and to know that he employed highly skilled cabinet makers. The original, limited, mechanical equipment remained the only machinery available until 1924 when a tenoning machine was added.

It was not until the end of the first quarter of 1898 when the Cabinet Factory was moved to its definitive position at the end of Alfred Mews that production began to build up significantly and Ambrose designed four more suites, including the 246 Pewter Inlaid suite (later known as the ‘Fine Feathers Suite’ because of its inlaid pewter inscription Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds) and subsequently the 1900 Paris Exhibition suite amongst others. By 1902 his design style had matured further and for the first time suites incorporating the chequered ebony and boxwood inlay, that became part of the Heal house style, were made. Perhaps even more significant was the introduction during 1903 and 1904 of the fumed chestnut ranges 372 (known colloquially as the ‘owl cabinet’), 428 and 412, which are considered by some to be the best things he ever designed. These sit on simple plinths and are topped with a fine cornice, the drawer pulls are beautifully shaped squashed hearts and inset wooden turnbuckle latches lock the doors. Here all the quirks of youth have vanished to be replaced by fine classical proportions yet these are in contrast to the very simple look of the warm-coloured, unpolished, fumed-chestnut being used for the first time. 1904 was also the year that the 404 Blenheim (later Yattendon) suite was introduced, perhaps as a refinement of the original Newlyn suite.

The Cheap Cottages Exhibition at the new Letchworth Garden City in 1905, for which Heal & Son furnished two cottages, marked an important turning point for Ambrose Heal and his business. From then on the concept of ‘reasonable furniture’ was to become a recurring theme that came to be closely associated with the company’s image. This was where he came closest to realising Morris’s dream of ‘Good Citizen’s furniture’. Heal furnished show-houses around this theme, again at Letchworth in 1907, at Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1909, at Gidea Park, Romford in 1911 and in 1919 he was invited to furnish an Army hut on Horse Guards Parade, a quantity of which the War Department Disposals Board were trying to sell off as cheap housing. Heal’s furniture was too good to be cheap but it was ideal for those who were seeking the ‘simple life’ in their weekend cottages, made accessible by railways and later by less expensive motor cars. A catalogue devoted to ‘Cottage Furniture’ was produced that offered a growing selection of Windsor and rush-seated, ladder-back chairs as well the tables and dressers in plain unpolished oak and these became so popular that they remained available for many years. It was perhaps at this juncture, when these ranges were created, that Heal realised the limitations of his own manufacturing facilities and turned increasingly to different sub-contractors in order to obtain better prices.

As time went on Ambrose Heal developed an increasing interest in the possibilities afforded by decorated furniture in contrast to the plain oak that had been so popular in the early years of the century. This was partly a result of First World War timber shortages and the need to find ways of making deal furniture look more interesting but also reflected the trend for more colour in the home at a more up-market level. Heal’s set up their own decorating studio to cater for this and bedroom suites were available in such colours as lemon yellow with contrasting lines or decorated with painted garlands of flowers on a black ground. More successful commercially was the introduction, around 1920, of the “Weathered Oak” finish. This was Heal’s version of what the rest of the trade called “limed oak” which consisted essentially of a process to work plaster of Paris into the grain of the oak as a contrast to the wood. It was a finish that became part of the Heal look of the period and was available right through the thirties on a wide range of furniture either made in-house or bought in from other suppliers.

Although Heal was essentially a man who loved the beauty and possibilities of wood and remained attached to his version of the Arts and Crafts ‘Cotswold’ style, he was sufficiently adaptable to see the possibilities of metal tubing and cast aluminium when they came into fashion in the nineteen thirties and he developed furniture using these materials. But one feels at heart he remained essentially a cabinet-maker. With the advent of the Second World War he retired from designing and also from the day to day management of the firm, handing over to his sons so that he could devote more time to his historical researches. However he continued to supervise on a part time basis and was known to countermand changes that he disagreed with.

Sir Ambrose Heal was a fervent believer that the study of 17th and 18th century models was essential for anyone wanting to design good furniture and once the lessons of the past had been learnt they could be applied to the needs of today. He even wrote: that any straining after originality is almost more to be deprecated than a humble reliance on old and well-tried methods. Yet he developed a distinctive style of his own based on elegance and good proportion that is now increasingly appreciated by collectors. He was not a man who introduced revolutionary new concepts that the world seems to expect from its great designers, but one who made his contribution to improving our homes by consistently and persistently pursuing ‘better design’ over more than forty years. He brought the Arts & Crafts Movement forward into the real world of the twentieth century.

Oliver Heal. ©

To view exhibits follow this link

For further information and catalogue (£5 plus P&P) email art@millineryworks.co.uk 

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