George Fejér | An Unsung Hero of Everyday Objects

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Coming up for sale in the forthcoming Design auction at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, to be held on Tuesday 28 January, are four examples of furniture designed by George Fejér (1912-1996), offered for sale by his family.

Although largely unknown to most outside of the field of design, Fejér's influence on the lives of British people in the second half of the 20th century should not be underestimated. The son of a respected Hungarian designer, George was born in 1912 in Budapest. From 1931, he trained as an architect at the prestigious Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, followed by postgraduate research on construction using translucent plastic materials.

George returned home from Switzerland in 1937 but urged by his father not to remain in Hungary due to the worsening political situation, he returned to Zurich in 1939, where his continued plastics research resulted in the creation of a new translucent material called 'Iso-lumen'. Moving to the UK on his marriage to Ena, a teacher, in 1940, he showed his new invention to the Ministry of Aircraft Production and was consequently allowed to remain in the UK. Almost immediately, Iso-lumen went into production, being manufactured by Pharoah-Gane & Co. Ltd. with Fejér as a consultant, for use in the repair of bomb damage. However, when the factory itself was destroyed in a bombing raid, all production ceased.

Despite this setback, opportunities for Fejér to use his outstanding design acumen to aid wartime Britain were many, and he decided to pursue a career in industrial design. From 1943 to 1947, he worked for the Selection Engineering Company, manufacturers of prefabricated homes, seen as the solution to the desperate need for housing as a result of the swathes of bomb damage suffered by Britain's towns and cities. The company produced the Uni-Seco prefabricated building, colloquially referred to as a 'prefab'. Constructed using a timber frame and asbestos cement, it was highly versatile and proved successful, as it could be assembled in a variety of combinations to suit its location, with minimum labour. George was able to enhance the builds with his innovative ideas for streamlined kitchen design and appliances.

Using this wartime experience of modular buildings, he later designed unit furniture for the 'Britain Can Make It' exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1946, followed by designs for the 'Power and Production' pavilion at the Festival of Britain in 1951. More recognition naturally followed and, having been admitted as a British citizen, he became a member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

From the 1950s onwards, he was a designer and design consultant for numerous companies including the kitchen manufacturers, Hygena Ltd., 1954-1972; at Crown Merton, makers of cookware, 1955-1972; the white goods manufacturers, AEI Hotpoint, 1959-1961; the bedroom and kitchen furniture manufacturers, Boulton & Paul, 1987-1989; and for the manufacturers of bathroom fittings, Ideal Standard, 1989-1992. One of George Fejér's most successful collaborations was with the chair manufacturer, Guy Rogers, who were based in Liverpool. Working with their designer, Eric Pamphilon, George created many iconic chairs of the 1960s, including the 'Manhattan' range.

George had a view on how to improve the design of more or less everything in the home, from the kitchen sink to the bedroom cupboard. He was keenly interested in ergonomics and concerned to make using everyday objects easier for everyone. His designs touched the lives of millions of people, yet despite this, he is little known outside of the design industry. Some of his designs are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but much of his work is in the family archive. Our grateful thanks to Juli Fejér, George's daughter, for allowing us to reproduce some of his designs and offering some within our forthcoming Design auction.

For further information on George Fejér, follow this link: George Fejér | Juli Fejér Art

design@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778

Tuesday 28 January 2025 | 10am

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