A Short History of G-Plan
G-Plan is a British furniture brand. It began as a pioneering range of furniture in the United Kingdom, produced by E Gomme Ltd. of High Wycombe. The success of G Plan led to E Gomme becoming one of the UK’s largest furniture manufacturers, with profits increasing sixfold between 1952 and 1958, when it was floated as an IPO. Since 2005, G Plan has been a subsidiary of Sofa Brands International.
In 1953, Donald Gomme, the designer at E Gomme, decided to produce a range of modern furniture for the entire house that could be bought piece-by-piece according to budgets. Advertising was part of the plan from the beginning. The name was coined by Doris Gundry of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, and the furniture was advertised in magazines and in cinemas directly to the public. Designs were available for several years, so people could collect them slowly. All furniture was marked with a distinctive brand mark.
Another part of the direct marketing was the showrooms, where the public could see the furniture. There were small centres in the country and “The G Plan Gallery” in Vogue House, St. George Street, and Hanover Square in London. Donald Gomme left the company in 1958, perhaps at the peak of the company’s success.
In the early 1960s, the government introduced restrictions on hire purchase (the most common method of purchasing furniture), and in response to competition from Danish furniture, the company introduced a Danish Modern range (designed by Ib Kofod-Larsen), which made the rest of the range seem dated.Gomme lost their market-leading position, though they continued to be a major manufacturer, making innovative designs with a very well-known brand name.
In 1987, the Gomme family—major shareholders in the company—decided to retire. They sold the business to the then directors, who, three years later, sold it to the Christie Tyler group of companies. In 1996, Morris Furniture Group acquired the licence to make and market G Plan Cabinet furniture in Glasgow, operating separately to the upholstery business. G Plan Upholstery Ltd., now based at a modern factory and offices near Melksham, Wiltshire, continues to manufacture most of its sofa and armchair products in the UK.
A compliment of styles: Piquot ware
Piquot ware is a range of accessories from the same era that easily pairs with and does not seem out of place next to any G-Plan furniture setting, which in itself is a testament to the synergy of thinking that ran through the era and designers of the time . ”
Zygo Interiors
Picquot ware is mid-century-designed collectible tableware made of a magnesium-aluminium alloy that they named ‘Magnalium’ in production in the same Northampton factory (Burrage & Boyd from 1947 until 1980). The factory also made vacuum cleaners.
The handles of the teapots, coffee pots, and kettles are made of the wood of sycamore trees. The pieces are mostly cast as a single piece, and the solid construction is efficient at retaining heat.
The dome-style K3 kettle was designed in 1938 by Jean Picquot. The kettle was chosen for the “Britain Can Make It” exhibition in London, which ran at the V&A for 14 weeks in the autumn of 1946.
