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The advent of war in 1939 brought with it limited supplies
of food, cloth and timber, so the British Board of Trade
imposed controls on both civilian consumption and industrial
production. Clothing, furniture and other household goods
were made available on a ration-only basis, subject to need.
The rationing of furniture was a potential problem as people
were either replacing houses destroyed by bombing or setting
up their first home. Due to these shortages, prices for
second-hand furniture increased dramatically; the government
realised they had to prevent manufacturers from producing
low-quality furniture and selling in on at a high cost.
By introducing design standards within the industry, both
quality and cost could be maintained. Gordon Russell was
enlisted to head the design team where he combined utilitarian
demands with British Arts and Crafts traditions. The first
catalogue of utility furniture was published in 1943; this
was an essential reference as retailers could not obtain
furniture from the manufacturers without the necessary units
from the customer, therefore all purchases had to be chosen
directly from the catalogue. In 1944 the Council of Industrial
Design was formed to aid development of the Utility Furniture
Scheme after the war. The ‘Britain Can Make It’
exhibition was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in
1946, which ran until the Festival of Britain in 1951, showcased
the development of utility furniture. In 1947 rationing
ended and utility specifications began to relax, manufacturers
began to introduce their own variants, adding walnut veneers
and a wider range of handles. This resulted in the Utility
Scheme CC41 mark appearing on many different pieces until
the scheme ended in 1952.
CC41 mark
Referred to as the cheeses, the Utility Scheme symbol was
created by Reginald Ship. He was asked to ‘design
the double C so that the public would not recognise the
letters as such’ but instead recognise it as a mark
of guaranteed quality.
CC .......... Civilian Clothing
41 .......... 1941 rationing units and coupons
To obtain a permit to purchase furniture, fabrics, etc.
a Certificate of Need was required. Once this certificate
had been issued, the following number of units were allocated:
Number of units pre-1943 .......... 60
Number of units post-1943 .......... 30
Number of permits issued in first two months of the scheme
.......... 18,500
number of rationing units required for…
wardrobe .......... 8 units
kitchen chair .......... 1 unit
bed settee .......... 15 units
* (available only to bed sitters)
On 8th May 1945, red, white and blue bunting was available
without the use of coupons for one month.
wartime propaganda slogans
lend a hand on the land – dig for victory –
careless talk costs lives
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