Fyne Ladye Furniture Maker

Fyne Ladye Furniture Maker

Like most other small/medium sized up-market British furniture makers from the late 1950’s and 1960’s there are very few original Fyne Ladye catalogues around . Large mid-market companies such as G Plan , Ercol , McIntosh and Staples Ladderax produced numerous catalogues , often annually and with pieces priced . Companies like Fyne Ladye of Banbury ( the trade name of Henry Stone ) had the obvious problem that they couldn’t afford the advertising and printing costs , but also they had to take into account where they were stocked . In the 1960’s there were still a lot of local independent family run furniture shops and many didn’t like to sell branded products .

I can’t think of any piece we’ve had by Fyne Ladye that came with a label . Many Dales craft pieces aren’t labelled , and the same goes for A Younger , Guy Rogers and a number of others who were all aiming at the more expensive end of the contemporary furniture market . Branding was part of the business plan of larger firms in the middle and lower end of the market , but not for the more expensive firms who were competing on design and quality up until the late 1960’s when everything changed for political and economic reasons amongst others .

Fyne Ladye was definitely used as a name in the 1930’s with labelled pieces turning up every so often today . You may also see a 1930’s advert for the company which says ” Quality Furniture at Economic Prices ” and ” Every genuine piece bears this label ” ( a label with logo and name ) . Jump to the mid 1950’s and we have a 1956/7 catalogue showing what they were producing at that point . They were then making a very large range of sturdy , well made rather boring pieces offered in oak , mahogany and walnut . Some of the pieces have a simplified Arts and Crafts look , and others have a plain Jacobean look . All were priced , but this was easy to do in the mid 1950’s when inflation was very low ! Bookcases , bureaus , hall tables , occasional furniture , music cabinets and piano stools were their stock in trade with the odd dropleaf dining table , but no dining chairs , sideboards or bedroom furniture !

All changed in about 1960 when the solid afrormosia range of dining suites , writing tables , bureaus etc designed by Richard Hornby were launched . This was suddenly a coherent matching look aimed at well off buyers who were looking for something modern and well made . Around 1960 this was a big growth area and there were plenty of lovely designs to choose from suddenly , just when G Plan lost their way and went in the wrong direction until 1962/63 . In 1957 the British Prime Minister Harold McMillan told the public that ” they’d never had it so good ” , and many people hadn’t . Car ownership was still low , foreign holidays rare , and white goods and TVs very basic and considered to be luxuries so spending sensibly on well made furniture was a priority for many young couples .

Henry Stone must have been very pleased with the success of Richard Hornby’s designs as a range of bedroom furniture ( less successfully ) followed as did a fireside chair and sofas with even less success ! In the early to mid 1960’s Fyne Ladye introduced other modern ranges by Hornby , Peter Hayward and their own in-house designer . These later ranges were nowhere near as popular as none are seen in large numbers unlike the first range of Hornby designs . Some that we’ve seen in contemporary articles in the trade paper The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer never seem to turn up at all today which is very sad as there were some truly lovely designs that we’re sure would be very sought after today . Henry Stone didn’t drop the traditional market completely in the early 1960’s from what we’ve read in The Cabinet Maker and it looks as if by the mid 1960’s that was again becoming a major part of their business .

If anybody has any information about Richard Hornby ( only seems to be known for Fyne Ladye ) , Henry Stone and Fyne Ladye Furniture please let us know .