… delightful, hands on wander through c20th design …

utility furniture design gordon russell

Housed in one of the original workshops, the Gordon Russell Design Museum is a hands on experience. You can pull back and admire the smooth delivery of a drawer, peek inside the dressing tables and stroke the veneer of a sideboard at this small museum. To give you a flavour of the furniture, I’ve selected three of my favourites to highlight.

The Lloyd George Chest ,otherwise known as the Snowshill Chest, was designed by Gordon Russell and made by Cecil Gough in 1928. The Liberal politician commissioned this piece from to be made from a holly tree that had blown down in his garden. It has a middle drawer especially designed to store his top hat. But, for me, the stars of the piece are the beautiful forged metal work handles made by A Fry.

lloyd george design furniture

A little later in date is this groovy Utility Sideboard designed by David Booth in 1950. The pattern had been created by machine cutting through the rosewood veneer to expose the birch laminboard behind. An example of Gordon Russell‘s pioneering approach of “by hand and machine” to create more affordable furniture.

twentieth century design furniture gordon russell

And my third favourite is an amazing Bredon Sideboard designed by Trevor Chinn in 1975. New production techniques were developed to create the extraordinary handles to the drawers which look like shark gills.

trevor chinn gordon russell design furniture

The Gordon Russell Design Museum is in Broadway, Worcestershire. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday 11-5 March to October (11-4 November to February). For further details check out their website. They have a small shop but no cafe. We wandered back to the Broadway Deli for a coffee and a toasted panettone, as you do.