The Silver Studio was one of the most influential textile design studios in the UK from its formation in 1880 until the middle of the twentieth century.
The studio, founded by Arthur Silver (1853–1896) designed some of the most famous fabric, wallpaper, carpet and metalwork designs for companies such as Liberty's, Turnbull and Stockdale, Sanderson and Warner and Sons Ltd, all of which used the Silver Studio's designs for their own ranges of wallpapers and textile.
At its most productive, the studio created more than 800 designs per year. The studio was renowned for its distinctive Art Nouveau style, although over the years they produced a wide variety of different designs and styles, including many of the famous Liberty style.
The significance of the Silver Studio as a design practice was acknowledged in 1981 with the awarding of an English Heritage blue plaque to 84 Brook Green, Hammersmith, the building that was both the Studio and the Silver family home.
History
The Silver Studio was founded by Arthur Silver in 1880. In 1901 Silver's son Reginald (Rex) Silver took over the studio and ran it until 1962. As Designer-Manager, Rex's role was to understand the requirements of the Studio's clients.
For its final year of operation, 1963, Rex's studio was run by Frank Price textile designer, a designer of importance. He had worked twice at the Silver Studio, firstly, for a period before the Second World War 1922 to 1935, leaving to a partnership with G.R. Kingbourne. Later he became chief designer at Arthur Sanderson & Sons. This job ended during the War, when Sandersons were bombed out, at which point he rejoined the Silver Studio, in 1941.
From 1953 to 1963, Frank Price was the only working designer, though Rex continued to manage the business until it closed in 1963.
Subsequently, Mary Peerless (Rex Silver's step-daughter) inherited the contents of the Studio from Rex, and gifted the majority of items to Hornsey College of Art.
Clients
The Silver Studio sold designs for fabrics and wallpapers to a number of manufacturers. Designs for wallpapers were sold both to manufacturers producing cheap papers for the mass market such as Lightbown Aspinall and Potters of Darwen, as well as those selling high quality products for the top end of the market such as Essex & Co, John Line and Arthur Sanderson & Sons. Leading British textile manufacturers included Stead McAlpin, Alexander Morton and AH Lee, Turnbull & Stockdale and Liberty, to name just a few.
Employees
Throughout its long history, the Silver Studio employed a varying number of designers, few of whom are well known in their own right. Some were paid as salaried employees, while some were freelancers. The number employed was usually around 10-12. Male designers worked in the Studio itself, while female designers were required to work from home.
Designers known to have worked for the Silver Studio include:
Archibald Knox (1864-1933) John Illingworth Kay (1870-1950) Harry Napper Frank Price Lewis Jones Madeleine Lawrence Winifred Mold
The Silver Studio's influence
The importance of the Silver Studio's influence internationally is indicated by the fact that in the early 1900s, around two thirds of the Studio's designs were sold to French and Belgian textile manufacturers, including Bergert Dupont et Cie, Dumas, Florquin, Gros Roman, Zuber Cie, Vanoutryve, Parison and Leborgne.
The Silver Studio is widely recognised as having played an important part in the development of British Art Nouveau. John Illingworth Kay and Harry Napper, two of its better-known designers, executed many of its most successful Art Nouveau designs. The Studio produced several thousand designs for wallpapers, textiles and metalwork in the Art Nouveau style between around 1895 and the early 1900s.
During the 1890s, Arthur Silver was also heavily interested in and influenced by the art of Japan. He worked closely with Alexander Rottman who imported many different varieties of paper from Japan. With Rottman, the Silver Studio developed a pioneering technique of stencil decoration, influenced by Japanese stencils, which in turn came to influence the Studio's own Art Nouveau designs. Anglo-Japanese collaboration of this kind in the 1890s meant that Japanese influences were absorbed into British design and decoration, and equally that British tastes influenced the products of Japan itself.