Geoffrey Dunn (1909 – 1997) British Furniture Retailer & Designer

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Sideboard (1951) by Geoffrey Dunn
Sideboard (1951) by Geoffrey Dunn

Geoffrey Dunn (1909 – 1997) was a British Furniture Retailer and designer.

Biography

He worked in the family retail store in Bromley, encouraging and supporting contemporary design and young designers. Dunn’s sold furniture by Marcel Breuer, Serge Chermayeff, and Alvar Aalto; fabric by Donald Bros., Edinburgh Weavers, and Warners; ceramics by Wedgwood and Michael Cardew.

Coffee Table (1950) by Geoffrey Dunn

Geoffrey Dunn’s simple furniture was produced by Gothe odearl Brothers, William Barlett, Keen of High Wycombe, Stones of Banbury, and in Dunn’s workshops.

Dunn’s of Bromley became part of the Heal’s Group. 1936, he became a member of the Council of Industrial Design; was chair of the design committee and independent member of the Domestic Handblown Glassware Working Party; in 1938, (with Crofton Gane, a retailer in Bristol known for subdued Modernism, and manufacturer Gordon Russell) established the Good Furnishing Group to select good Modern designs available at reasonable prices, and became its chair in 1953. In 1952, he was appointed managing director of the Council of Industrial Design.

Recognition

In 1974, appointed Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists and, in 1976, Commander of the British Empire. He received a 1975 bi-centenary medal Royal Society of Art.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

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