Although how we furnished our homes in the latter part of the 20th century was largely influenced by two men - Terence Conran
of Habitat and Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA - a number of women attempted, in their various ways, to influence our taste when it
came to how we lived.
Early on were the Victorian/Edwardian women, often associated with the Suffragette movement who both designed and sold
furniture. These were followed, after WWI, by others also breaking social rank - the society hostesses - totally untrained but
full of confidence, who having their own 'interiors' admired, saw a way of supplementing their incomes, by imposing their tastes
on others. Meanwhile a few women were proselytising their concerns for well-crafted and designed products, through retail
outlets from small financially precarious shops, to running part of the prestigious store, Heals. Wartime threw up an altogether
more professional group - the 'doers' - those e,powered to 'do it themselves' . Additionally there were a handful of professional
furniture designers and another small group looking to the design needs of the masses rather than the comfortably off.
From Palaces to Pre-fabs sets out to restore the reputation of such women working in what was the largely male-dominated
world of interior design.
