DOI Artikel:
On cottage furniture
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41874#0088
ON COTTAGE FURNITURE
cupboards, and the shelves of a dresser should not be too high. Lastly, but
very important, the furniture should be comfortable, bright, and attrac-
tive, and not too far removed from the ordinary, for the cottager will be
afraid of anything that borders on the extreme or unusual in form and
colour. Staining to imitate other woods should be strongly condemned.
If the above essentials are accepted as starting-points, it should be possible
to produce good and attractive articles which the cottager will appreciate
when he sees them. This, however, is one of the real difficulties which
have to be met. To appreciate the good points the cottage housewife
must see the things in situ—that is, in the cottage itself. It is more than
useless to lecture or talk to people about good design or fitness for use; but
if they see a room cosily and brightly furnished they will want one like it.
How can this model room be shown ? Is it too much to ask that specimen
cottages may be built in districts where known quantities are wanted, and
that the architects should co-operate with the cabinet-makers and com-
pletely furnish two or three cottages as models ? Exhibitions of types of
rooms might be held in the large centres, and in this way people would
learn something about good furnishing. Such efforts would go a long way
to prove that furniture can be bright, homely, and moderately cheap with-
out being showy or shoddy. The housing committees and manufac-
turers must be prepared to make experiments; local traditions should be
carefully fostered. Where village industries have existed and decayed,
strong efforts might be made to revive them, although such centres of pro-
duction could not make a tithe of the furniture required. The question of
standardization has been raised, and if cost of output is to be minimized, a
certain amount of standardized furniture must be accepted. Machine
methods can be adjusted to meet variety in form and size, and local tra-
ditions should keep the output of standard designs within reasonable
limits.
The scarcity of materials is at present a difficulty which time will remedy.
The hitherto cheap timbers, such as deal, whitewood, hazel, and satin-
walnut, will, no doubt, approach the normal price as supplies increase.
On the other hand there must be immense quantities of English timber
hidden away in country yards, or lying rotting by the roadside. Such
woods as birch, beech, plane, elm, sycamore, ash, chestnut, lime, and
willow are all suitable for such things as chairs and tables.
Can the manufacturers be persuaded to make experiments in colour ?
Surely something could be done in staining satin-walnut instead of the
hideous yellow of the only too well-known bedroom suites made in that
wood. There is a wide field for experiments in paint, and attractive colour
in this medium would be preferable to stained mahogany or grained oak
and maple. The Design and Industries Association has been doing some
76
cupboards, and the shelves of a dresser should not be too high. Lastly, but
very important, the furniture should be comfortable, bright, and attrac-
tive, and not too far removed from the ordinary, for the cottager will be
afraid of anything that borders on the extreme or unusual in form and
colour. Staining to imitate other woods should be strongly condemned.
If the above essentials are accepted as starting-points, it should be possible
to produce good and attractive articles which the cottager will appreciate
when he sees them. This, however, is one of the real difficulties which
have to be met. To appreciate the good points the cottage housewife
must see the things in situ—that is, in the cottage itself. It is more than
useless to lecture or talk to people about good design or fitness for use; but
if they see a room cosily and brightly furnished they will want one like it.
How can this model room be shown ? Is it too much to ask that specimen
cottages may be built in districts where known quantities are wanted, and
that the architects should co-operate with the cabinet-makers and com-
pletely furnish two or three cottages as models ? Exhibitions of types of
rooms might be held in the large centres, and in this way people would
learn something about good furnishing. Such efforts would go a long way
to prove that furniture can be bright, homely, and moderately cheap with-
out being showy or shoddy. The housing committees and manufac-
turers must be prepared to make experiments; local traditions should be
carefully fostered. Where village industries have existed and decayed,
strong efforts might be made to revive them, although such centres of pro-
duction could not make a tithe of the furniture required. The question of
standardization has been raised, and if cost of output is to be minimized, a
certain amount of standardized furniture must be accepted. Machine
methods can be adjusted to meet variety in form and size, and local tra-
ditions should keep the output of standard designs within reasonable
limits.
The scarcity of materials is at present a difficulty which time will remedy.
The hitherto cheap timbers, such as deal, whitewood, hazel, and satin-
walnut, will, no doubt, approach the normal price as supplies increase.
On the other hand there must be immense quantities of English timber
hidden away in country yards, or lying rotting by the roadside. Such
woods as birch, beech, plane, elm, sycamore, ash, chestnut, lime, and
willow are all suitable for such things as chairs and tables.
Can the manufacturers be persuaded to make experiments in colour ?
Surely something could be done in staining satin-walnut instead of the
hideous yellow of the only too well-known bedroom suites made in that
wood. There is a wide field for experiments in paint, and attractive colour
in this medium would be preferable to stained mahogany or grained oak
and maple. The Design and Industries Association has been doing some
76