Hille

Hille ( } is a British Modern furniture manufacturer which is especially noted for its range of Modernist chairs. Its products have been influential in the history of interior design and the company has been engaged internationally in a number of major design projects, including furnishings for the Royal Festival Hall and Gatwick Airport. A number of prominent furniture designers have worked for Hille, including Robin Day and Fred Scott. History The company was founded in 1906 by Salamon Hille in London's East End. The Hille furniture business was transformed when Salomon's granddaughter Rosamind Julius and her husband met two award-winning British designers in America in 1949. Historically the business had created reproduction antiques and during the war it had repaired antique furniture for the Victoria and Albert Museum. It could not compete in the new furniture market even after the war with the government's Utility furniture scheme. The business was temporarily saved at the end of the war by exporting Chippendale style furniture to America. The two designers, Robin Day and Clive Latimer, had won prizes for furniture design from the New York Museum of Modern Art. Together the company changed direction and the new furniture was designed not for retail but for specification by architects and large projects. They were awarded the contract to deliver furniture for the Festival Hall. In 1951, Hille moved from its premises in Hainault to a former brewery building in Watford, Hertfordshire. As the company found success it began to expand, and in 1961 it opened a new showroom and office building at its North Watford premises, Hille House, a noted example of Brutalist architecture by the noted architect Ernő Goldfinger.