Design moment: G Plan, c.1953

Fans of mid-century modern furniture who scour websites for bargains (it can’t be just me) will know that “G Plan” has become a sort of shorthand used to describe any piece of furniture – but typically any low, long teak or light oak sideboard – that is English-made and dating from the 1950s or 1960s.

But G Plan is very definitely a distinctive brand and one that owes its origins and success to the mood of the post-war era in Britain in which it first made its mark. The Festival of Britain in 1951 was intended as an optimistic vision of future living, a forward-looking event to boost post-war morale, and it whetted the public’s appetite for a modern style of furniture. The young designer Donald Gomme – grandson of Ebenezer Gomme, who had started the E Gomme handcrafted furniture company in 1898 – seized his opportunity in 1953.

The young man’s pieces were light and modern-looking, solid, high-quality pieces, often in light oak. They were an attractive option after the utility furniture available in Britain during the war years and were a complete contrast to the heavy furniture available before.

Customers didn’t have to buy an entire suite – bedroom or livingroom – as had been common until then; instead, they could build up their new furniture collection piece by piece, often bought under hire-purchase arrangements.

From the start, the very modern Gomme understood the power of marketing: the name G Plan was devised by an advertising agency which produced appealing brochures and an advertising campaign. Part of its marketing strategy was to display room settings in shops – where nearly every item in the room was G Plan designed – so that customers could get the G Plan experience before they bought. Gomme’s styles were immediately hugely successful, with waiting lists extending to more than a year, so inevitably the designs were soon copied.