Courtauld/Sanderson 'Ancestral Range'- a 1950s Heritage Range

On the 14th March a large group of members gathered at The Costessey Centre to hear a very interesting talk by John Miners.

John grew up in a textiles family in Halstead, Essex, where his father Peter, like many members of the community, worked at the Courtaulds mill.  Courtaulds had been an incredibly successful company during the nineteenth century, producing high quality silks and later, black silk mourning crepe.  In the early twentieth century they were one of the first companies to investigate the use of artificial fibres such as viscose, and when John himself joined the company on leaving school, the Halstead works was one of three thriving Essex sites belonging to one of the world's largest textile manufacturers.

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He later went on to work for the prestigious woven textiles manufacturer Pallu and Lake, and became involved in working with organisations such as the National Trust in the recreation of heritage textiles.  This led to a growing interest in history and particularly in the processes involved in copying historic textiles, and through this he has become an expert on the groundbreaking 'Ancestral Range', produced by Courtaulds in the 1950s and marketed by Sanderson - the first time that historic designs had been taken and copied in a modern version available to the general public.

​John showed us an enormous array of beautiful viscose upholstery fabrics copied directly from older examples from some of the most prestigious country houses in Britain.  The first collection alone contained imitations of designs from Hardwick, Holkham, Ickworth, Kedleston, Knole, Whittingham, Madresfield and Osterley.  It was the subject of an expensive advertising campaign by Sanderson and was clearly aimed at people aspiring to bring an aristocratic air to their domestic decor.  The range served to raise Sanderson's profile; a second collection followed, and a third was planned, but sadly the fabric was costly to produce, and the growing fascination with bold new graphic design in the 1950s inspired by the Festival of Britain meant that heritage designs like these did not sell well.
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​In a world where reproductions of historic designs are now so popular, it is easy to imagine that these fabrics were perhaps ahead of their time.  Our members were certainly delighted to see them up close and spent a wonderful half hour examining the fabrics in detail and choosing their favourites!  John is the custodian of an impressive archive of samples, some of which never went into production, and it was a real privilege to be allowed to share them with him.