SOLD Pair Of Lounge Chairs Neil Morris From Morris Furniture Of Glasgow Mid Century Vintage Retro MCM

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Pair Of Lounge Chairs Neil Morris From Morris Furniture Of Glasgow Mid Century Vintage Retro MCM

A matching pair of walnut lounge chairs or coffee chairs designed by Neil Morris, for Morris Furniture Of Glasgow during the 1950s.

With scissor like shaped rich walnut veneered ply frames, they have been newly reupholstered in an off white cream ivory coloured bouclé.

Dimensions
Height - 66cm
Width - 52cm
Depth - 63cm
Seat Height - 44cm

Morris of Glasgow was founded by Harris Morris (1884-1946) and in the 1920’s specialised in working with the large shipyards providing panelling and furniture for ocean liners. His son Neil (1918-1995) joined the company in 1938. He’d already served an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer. In the 1930’s the company already had done work making helicopter blades, and during the 2nd World War they took the lead in developing a special aircraft plywood called Aeroply. After the war like all the furniture industry it took time before they could make their move into the domestic furniture market. They had made some Utility furniture as well as their aircraft work so they were well placed to using their wartime experience in the fast growing domestic market.

In 1947 Morris became the favoured supplier of Royalty and were commissioned to design and fit a special bedroom suite for the Queen and Prince Philip as a royal wedding gift. The wood was taken from the balmoral estate and then sent to their first home at Clarence House. Today the furniture resides in Sandringham Castle. Eighteen years later Morris again performed the same role fitting Her Majesty’s namesake cruise ship.

During the second half of the twentieth century Morris Furniture Group experienced steady growth within the furniture sector. Introducing new products and ranges the Morris Furniture Group saw themselves expand into new markets with high end luxury goods. In 1955 Morris Furniture produced wurlitzer juke boxes to USA to support the boom in music boxes.

In 1958 Morris Furniture was involved in the festival of Britain exhibiting all that was good in British furniture and in 1963 Neil Morris won many design awards for his famous Bambi chair and Clouds occasional tables. Even today collectors seek these valued and exceptional designs.

In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s Neil Morris came up with some very stylish pieces using walnut veneers and ply construction . His Cumbrae range pre-dated E Gomme’s G Plan Brandon range by about 4 years and Stag’s move into the contemporary style by a similar number of years. The late 1940’s and early 50’s were a very productive period with a mix of high end pieces and mass produced designs such as the Bambi and Toby chairs . His Cloud coffee tables and Boomerang chairs have now quite rightly become design classics.

By 1967, once again, Morris Furniture found themselves in the privileged position of fitting the ocean liner QE2 (Queen Elizabeth the second) for the Royal Family. In 1970 Morris won contracts to supply British Embassies with desks and cabinets continuing their great heritage in office furniture.

His late 1950’s and 60’s designs were nowhere near as dynamic and failed to build on the success of his earlier designs and their market share declined gradually until by 1973 a company that had been employing 300 or more was down to less than a tenth of that number.

Neil’s son Robert took over in 1976 and revived Morris of Glasgow bit by bit and it now employs more people than it did at his peak. In 1992 it employed about 230 and that had quadrupled to around 1000 by 2013.

For any questions please message us on WhatsApp +447590146893 or please call us and follow us on Instagram @relicsofretro

National and international delivery is available at an extra cost which we can organise on your behalf.

Collection in person is welcome. We are West of Cambridge in Bourn CB23.
Please message before purchasing to confirm delivery costs.

Please note that vintage furniture may have some slight imperfections, which is to be expected in keeping with its age, as we do not offer returns on items sold.