History of G Plan
G Plan is distinctive British brand of furniture that is known for quality craftsmanship. The actual brand was not conceived until the early 1950s, however the Gomme family had been making furniture since 1898.
Early history of G Plan furniture
G Plan’s roots lie in 1898 when Ebenezer Gomme established his handcrafted furniture business in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He was not alone in his craft, as the area was home to hundreds of other furniture makers all making use of the abundant supplies of timber from the Chiltern beech woods in the region and riding on the wave of insatiable demand for furniture at the time.
Over the years, the company grew steadily, albeit with some interruptions. The first of which was the First World War when E Gomme Ltd was tasked with manufacturing DC9 aircraft. Then in 1922, the factory was completed gutted by a fire. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the company had become one of the largest furniture manufacturers in the industry at the time. During World War II, the company was again set to war work and played a leading role in the production of the Mosquito aircraft.
Post-war G Plan
After rationing ended in the early 1950s, there was a huge pent up demand for furniture and production began to get back to normal. Ebenezer Gomme’s grandson, Donald, was working as a designer for the company and began to take a leading role in the company. One of his ideas was to promote their furniture directly to the consumer, the customers who would be buying and using the furniture. At the time this was unheard of for a manufacturer.
The brand name ‘G Plan’ was coined in 1953 by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and G Plan became the first furniture brand to be promoted heavily through advertising. The first range of furniture from G Plan was the Brandon, which was designed in the highly contemporary style of the early fifties.
G Plan became an iconic brand and lay claim to a host of ‘firsts’ including:
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the first to introduce modular furniture, the Form Five
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the first to introduce flip action extending dining tables
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the first company to break free of furniture suites.
Unlike any other furniture manufacturer before it, G Plan allowed customers to buy individual pieces of furniture rather than whole suites for the bedroom, living room or dining room. This meant customers could buy as much or as little as they wanted, or could afford, changing the way people were able to buy furniture forever. From the 1960s onwards, G Plan was the brand that most people aspired to own. G Plan was, and remains today, renowned for good design, high quality and reasonable prices.
In 1987, the Gomme family retired and handed the reins over to the board of directors who continued to run G Plan based on its same core values of comfort, style and quality. The business was later sold to Christie Tyler and in 1996, the licence to manufacture and sell G Plan Cabinets was bought by Morris Furniture. Both G Plan Upholstery and G Plan Cabinets, although now run as separate concerns, have continued to move with the times and keep up with modern trends, without losing the brand’s reputation for quality
Buy G Plan furniture and sofas from Lukehurst
Today, Lukehurst is proud to stock a wide variety of G Plan furniture, including a lovely range of G Plan sofas. Take a look at our range that’s available to order online here. Otherwise, do pop into either our Rainham or Sittingbourne stores to see the timeless G Plan sofas for yourself.
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- 6th October 2015
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