Lesson of the day

We've been reminiscing about the care-free days spent at primary school; when the only worries we had were school dinners and not knowing our hymns off-by-heart during singing practice; the days when our names were lovingly sewn into our clothes, our gloves hung from elastic which had been threaded through the sleeves of our coats, Clarks' shoes, satchels, daps, playing kiss chase, and those tiny little chairs that filled every class room.

And that neatly leads us to the topic of today's tutorial; the humble school chair.

Plywood stacking chairs dating from the 1950s and designed by the Packet Futniture company. Who remembers the coloured dots on the back?

P.E.L./Cox stacking chair dating from the 1930s. Produced in large numbers between the 1930s and 1950's by all the large industrial furniture companies of the time, P.E.L., Cox and Remploy, these chairs do not usually house a makers-mark, although there are slight variations in the design build. The general design is one which covers all practicalities; sturdy, light-weight and space saving in their ability to stack. 

A newer version of the P.E.L./Cox chair dating from around the late 1960s.

Stacking chairs dating from the 1950s with grey/greenish tubular metal frame and wooden seat/back rest.

Ercol's stacking chairs date from the late 1950s and came in different sizes; each size had its own coloured dot on the back. A red dot signified the chair was designed for smaller children, then came the blue dot for larger children, and next up the green dot.

We are all guilty of taking the 'Polypropylene Chair' designed by Robin Day for granted, aren't we??

And new for this term, Very Good & Proper has introduced a 'Canteen Utility Chair' inspired by the ubiquitous post war school chair.

Images: Lassco (1950s plywood stacking chairs), Styling & Salvage (1930's P.E.L./Cox), Elemental (1960's P.E.L./Cox), Pigeon Vintage (1950s stacking chairs), The Teakweasel (Ercol stacking chairs), Design Technology Department (Polypropylene chair)