Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

Furnishing the street
HERRING, Ellie / PhD / University of Edinburgh / Scotland
Street furniture / Council of Industrial Design / ‘Good Design’ /
Taste / Civic reform
This paper will examine the effect of a state-supported interpretation
of good taste upon the materiality of the street during the
postwar period in Britain. Drawing on original material, this paper
will reflect upon the notion of official principles in the design of
street furniture and by doing so, address the nuances of responsibility
and control in the public realm more generally.
The postwar urban landscape can either be described as a well-designed
modern room which ‘quietly and unostentatiously’ served
its purpose 1 , or a series of ‘endless grey streets’ set apart only by
degrees of ‘extreme dullness’. 2 Such contrasting views characterize
the furnishing of Britain’s streets during the postwar period
and the strong feelings that process produced. Yet the lamp-posts,
benches and litter bins that aroused such strong feelings, were
largely expected to perform these roles inconspicuously, while also
maintaining a ‘modern’ appearance. As objects of modern design,
their role was not to dominate, but to gently impose a sense of rationality,
uniformity and neutrality upon the street. Yet this paradox
begs the question: why did objects designed to be ignored incite so
much dissent, and – given the role of the state in furnishing Britain’s
postwar streetscape - what does this tell us about national
policies on design more generally?
This paper will seek to respond to these questions and examine
the influence of the state upon the materiality of the street
during the post-war period in Britain. While several other organizations
also extended their reach over the design of postwar
street furniture, only the Council of Industrial Design was stateendorsed
and state-funded. 3 By promoting ‘well-designed’ street
furniture, the Council acted on behalf of the government as an
arbiter of good taste and arguably played a crucial role in visually
unifying and standardizing the aesthetic of the street. Therefore,
this paper will focus on the role of the Council as a state-funded
organization charged with maintaining street furniture design
standards, and the tensions that surfaced as a result. By doing
so, it is the ambition of this paper to explore the way in which the
state has sought to influence design in an environment many
continue to take for granted – and upon objects which to date
have not received much academic interest – as well as to examine
the nuances of responsibility and control in the public realm
more generally.
1 The CoID, Book L. Street Furniture: A Design Folio, No date (Circa 1951), p. 4
2 W.P. Jaspert, of London NW3, Letters page, Design, no. 168, January 1961, p.81
3 Engagement with this issue extended out-with central and local government to
the public utility companies, civic groups and preservation societies, the specialist
design press, material associations and Industry, as well as several prominent
urban reformers.
It could be argued that the most significant official body concerned
with the promotion of design in Britain during the Twentieth
Century was the Council of Industrial Design. 4 Though it had
no direct powers and operated mainly through persuasion, its
impact was felt across design disciplines in the design of toasters
and curtains, portable radios, aircraft interiors and street furniture.
According to Council’s First Annual Report, the organization’s
primary task was ‘to promote by all practicable means the
improvement of design in the products of British industry’. 5 The
need for improvement in design became particularly pressing
towards the end of the Second World War when Britain’s economy
was considerably unstable. And yet the Council’s role in the
field of design went beyond economics. The organizational model
for the Council was as an educational and advisory service
for the public, industry and municipal authorities. The Council’s
interpretation of ‘good design’ was thoroughly endorsed through
exhibitions, symposiums and conferences, publications, the Design
Centre and Design magazine. However, given its emergence
out of a long period of conflict, it is perhaps no surprise that the
Council’s mission was felt by some to be a moral one. In its Fifteenth
Annual Report, the Council defined itself as a ‘missionary’
organisation promoting the cause of good design. 6 Its primary
task then, was to promote design as a social and economic good.
Though much of its central work focused on consumer goods,
among the Council’s early design responsibilities was the approval
of street furniture for Britain’s streets. The importance of
street furniture during this period was underlined by the huge
demand for such equipment in the immediate aftermath of the
wartime conflict. 7 Accordingly, manufacturers took advantage
of the demand and began producing products in much the same
way as they had done before the war. Yet for the Council, the prewar
acceptance of historicist styles was no longer appropriate
and ways were sought ways to replace ‘the masses of ugly ornate
columns throughout the country’ 8 , and remedy what it perceived
as a pronounced absence of good taste reflected by the British
streetscape. 9 Yet matters of taste were difficult for a governmentsponsored
organization to discuss openly for fear of accusations
of a centrally orchestrated agenda, but also because ‘taste’ undermined
the notion of inherently ‘good’ design. For the Council,
4 The CoID will herewith be referred to as the Council in the main body of the text.
5 CoID, First Annual Report 1945-46, p.5
6 CoID, Fifteenth Annual Report 1959-60, p.11
7 This was due in part because of the devastation that had occurred as a result
of bombing raids, and a desire to modernise the street; but also because of the
‘the post-war proliferation of urban transportation and increase in car ownership’
Jonathan Woodham, The Industrial Designer and the Public, (London: Pembridge
Press, 1983), p.84
8 David Davies, ‘Influence of changing transport systems’, The Municipal and
Public Services Journal, 24.11.67, in ‘Street Furniture Articles and Lectures’
(1432.15 Pt III)
9 The public might have felt differently however - refer to Jonathan M. Woodham,
Twentieth Century Design, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies / Proceedings of the 8th Conference of the International Committee for
Design History & Design Studies - ICDHS 2012 / São Paulo, Brazil / © 2012 Blucher / ISBN 978-85-212-0692-7