During the Second World War, British designers turned the ‘Utility’ discipline of ‘no surplus ornament’ into a positive virtue. They saw the future as bare and hard – better homes and uncluttered, clean interiors would make better citizens. With the formation of the Council of Industrial Design in 1944, good design came to be seen almost as a moral mission. The Festival of Britain in 1951 was used as a platform for promoting the virtues of a new ‘design culture’ that was seen as a key to social improvement.
The Festival of Britain site on the South Bank, London, 12 May 1951.
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By the 1950s the economy was in better shape and new technology-based goods were becoming available for the first time. Most of these were designed and manufactured in Britain, using technologies and production techniques honed by the Second World War. This was only the dawn of consumerism – these items were now becoming affordable, but only just.
Today the home is filled with items that we take for granted. However, in this period, the TVs, power tools and consumer white goods were, for most people, the first they had ever owned.
The ECKO television, the first British portable television receiver, 1955.
By the early 1960s consumer goods had become much cheaper and more widely available. Rising living standards brought more disposable income for domestic products.
But in this period the British market became increasingly open to foreign products which were often seen as more stylish.
In spite of much government investment and a relatively protected British market, home-grown design and manufacturing quality had slipped. British companies that had prospered at the dawn of the consumer era seemed weak in managing production. Foreign competitors proved better at driving down costs and began to offer better economy and crisper design values. The general reliance on British products began to decline.
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