Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T05:54:47.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Interwoven connections: The Stoddard-Templeton design studio and design library 1843-2005

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Helena Britt*
Affiliation:
Glasgow School of Art, 161 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6 RQ, UK
Duncan Chappell*
Affiliation:
Glasgow School of Art, 161 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6 RQ, UK
Get access

Abstract

The historical importance of carpet design and manufacture to the West of Scotland is now largely forgotten, eclipsed by heavy industries such as shipbuilding for which Glasgow is justly famous. Yet, in their heyday, carpet manufacturers A. F. Stoddard of Elderslie, Renfrewshire and James Templeton of Glasgow Green provided employment for thousands of workers. Indeed, by the 1950s Templeton was Glasgow’s largest single employer. For decades the companies supplied carpets to the world’s ocean liners, heads of state, royalty, corporations and state institutions, yet in 2005 the combined companies filed for bankruptcy. This paper describes efforts to save and interpret the historical collections, principally concentrating on the design library now held at the Glasgow School of Art. It follows a recent research project, exhibition and publication that explored the development of the Library and its use within the design process.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. A number of examples reside in the Victoria & Albert Museum. See http://collections.vam.ac.uk/ Google Scholar
2. Information taken from annual reports held in Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections http://www.gsa.ac.uk/about-gsa/library-leaming-resources/archives-collections-centre/ Google Scholar
3. Tapestries, Gobelins, Les modeles et le Musée des Gobelins (Paris: Armand Guerinet, 1900).Google Scholar
4. Carney, Clive, International interiors and design (Sydney: Angus and Roberts, 1959).Google Scholar
6. Britt, Helena, Chappell, Duncan, Stephen-Cran, Jimmy and Waters, Susannah, Interwoven connections: the Stoddard Templeton design studio and design library, 1843-2005 (Glasgow: Glasgow School of Art, 2013). Catalogue of an exhibition curated by Helena Britt at the Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, 8 November 2013-11 January 2014.Google Scholar
7. Interwoven connections (Glasgow: Glasgow School of Art). Film of the exhibition. See http://vimeo.com/80325935 Google Scholar
8. Britt, Helena & Chappell, Duncan, Interwoven connections (Glasgow: Glasgow School of Art). Public lecture given at Glasgow School of Art, 10 January 2014. See http://vimeo.com/84115673 Google Scholar
9. John Byrne’s 1978 play The slab boys is a semi-autobiographical account of his time as a Stoddards ‘slab boy’, manual workers who would grind pigments for designers on large marble slabs.Google Scholar
10. Young, Fred, A century of carpet making (Glasgow: James Templeton & Co., 1944), 55.Google Scholar
11. James Templeton & Co., Templeton presents carpets of distinction (Glasgow: University of Glasgow Press, 1951), 16.Google Scholar
12. Benedictos, Edouard, Relais 1930: quinze planches donnant quarante-deux motifs décoratifs (Paris: Vincent, Fréal et Cie, 1931).Google Scholar
13. Morton, Blackwood and Sons, , Golden riches catalogue (Kilmarnock: BMK, 1980). Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster, CS/UK/STD/5. The catalogue incorrectly claims the design is inspired by the work of Seguy.Google Scholar
14. Stoll, Christian, Kunstgewerbliche Schmuckformen fur die Flache – Band I (Plauen: Christian Stoll, 1910).Google Scholar
15. Carpets, Stoddard, Stoddard commercial carpets contract Axminster booklet (Elderslie: Stoddard Carpets, 1983). Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster, UKTB/STD/2.Google Scholar
16. Guide to Stoddard archive and library colour code. Records of Stoddard International plc, University of Glasgow Archive Services, GB0248 STOD/200/2/15/6/1.Google Scholar
17. Morton, Blackwood and Sons, , The creative approach brochure (Kilmarnock: BMK, C1980). Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster UKTB/BMK/3.Google Scholar
18. Mercia, Stoddard, The Stoddard Merda contact design portfolio (Elderslie: Stoddard Mercia, c,1980). Collection of Stewart Roxburgh.Google Scholar