George Fejer 1912 – 1996
Overview
It is difficult to look at one's father's life with anything like objectivity. He died when I was relatively young, and like most young people I was preoccupied with my own concerns rather than those of my parents. To us, his family, he was always Daddy. He was a modest softly spoken man and it wasn't until decades after he died that I began to understand his contribution to design in the 20th century.
I am researching his archives, and trying to tell his exceptional story.
He was resolutely positive and always looking to improve people's lives through his work. He continued to write articles and to be engaged with the world until the day he died.
George has been called the Unsung Hero of Everyday Objects. He was not only interested in aesthetics but in ergonomics, and in how components could be fitted together to improve the home.
New !
I have recently discovered a review of projects that George Fejer undertook in the 1950s which he wrote up himself shortly before he died. This reads like a Who's Who of iconic brands. You can read his account here.
Obituary of George Fejer which appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 5 February 1996
Early Life
George Fejér was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1912.
In 1931 George entered the prestigious Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich where he trained as architect. Having completed his architectural studies, he pursued a postgraduate course and submitted a thesis on constructions using translucent materials.
Photograph of George's young man, possibly at school or university
In 1937, George suddenly had to give a hand in running his father’s antique shop in the heart of Budapest. The first thing he did was to redesign the stationery. This card is part of the project. The text reads Antique Furniture and Objects D’Art.
Isolumen
In 1939, George returned to Switzerland as a stepping stone to emigration, due to the political situation in Hungary. He continued his research into translucent materials and created a new material which he called Iso-lumen.
He came to the UK because he had met a teacher called Ena, who he married. He showed his new material to The Ministry of Aircraft Production and was allowed to stay in the UK.
In 1940 Iso-lumen was manufactured by Pharoah-Gane & Co. Ltd. who employed George as a consultant. The material was used for repairing bomb damage. But then the factory at which Iso-lumen was manufactured was destroyed by bombing, and production ceased.
Patent for Isolumen 1940
Selection Engineering and Prefabs
In 1943 George became a consultant to the Selection Engineering Co and he was involved with creating prefabs for people who needed housing during and after the war. George brought with him ideas about streamlined kitchen design and appliances.
The bombing of towns and cities resulted in a desperate need for housing. A speedy and economical solution was the manufacture and installation of prefabricated homes. Planned to be a temporary fix, many prefabricated homes lasted longer than originally intended. In 1942 the Government set up the Burt Committee to 'consider materials and methods of construction suitable for the building of houses and flats, having regard to efficiency, economy and speed of erection'. It led to the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944 and the Emergency Factory Made Housing Programme, and which became known as the Temporary Housing Programme. The Act set out to construct at least 300,000 homes during a two-year period and provided for the construction of temporary, prefabricated housing. Made by the Selection Engineering Company, the Uni-Seco prefab was constructed using a timber frame and asbestos cement. The Uni-Seco was a highly versatile prefab. Designed in a kit, it could be assembled in a variety of combinations to suit its location.
Attribution: Prefabulous
George would use a modular prefabricated approach when he created his own bungalow house in Wimbledon in 1964.
Post-War Reconstruction
After the war, George was naturalised as a British subject, became a member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
He designed furniture for the 'Britain Can Make It' at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 1946, and worked for Venesta, a manufacturer of plywood products, from 1946-49.
For the Festival of Britain, which took place on the South Bank in 1951. in 1951, he designed the Plastics, Rubber and Commerce sections for the Power and Production pavilion.
Guy Rogers Ltd
During the 1950s the race was on to design the perfect chair. Public seating, armchairs, unit seating chairs that nest, plastic seat shells, metal chairs – all changed during the decade. George's client Arthur Webb with whom he was already working at Hygena, acquired another Liverpool firm called Guy Rogers Ltd. They were doing well with fireside chairs and leathercloth three-piece suites. As George puts it Arthur Webb said: “I want you to design a range that is cosmopolitan rather than provincial and suits the home and the contract field equally well. In other words repeat the Hygena success!” Between 1955 and 1971 George and his studio team, working closely with Guy Rogers resident in house designer, Eric Pamphilon, created dozens of ranges with an inner grid of standardisation and utilisation linking many of them. The company was known for craftsmanship and quality. They created furniture which was iconic of the period. Guy Rogers established a successful partnership with the prestigious London store Heals. The company grew in stature and esteem so much so that it became a target for a takeover bid.
1950s Designs for Guy Rogers
What is Afromosia?
The wooden structure of many of the Guy Rogers's chairs was made of Afromosia . This is sometimes referred to as African teak but isn't actually teak, coming from a different family of wood. Guy Rogers later moved into using teak.
Here is one of George's original drawings for a a convertible couch dating from 1956
A Guy Rogers brochure from 1958
This is the Sapele group shown in the 1958 brochure and a photograph from George's archives.
"The bed settee is fitted with a Dunlopillo mattress on Dunlop webbing. The back is sprung and has storage space for bedding held in position by two sliding trays.
The frames on the whole of this group are made of the best quality sapele. The bed settee breaks down into 2 arm sections, one back section, one mattress and one base section for ease of movement into and out of houses or shops."
Caption from photograph.
Increasing Complexity and New Style
Beverly Hills
This catalogue photograph shows the Beverly Hills range of furniture which was one of the most successful of George's designs. It was manufactured from 1961.
Original drawing from 1964, and prototype chair from the designer's own home which was sold at auction in 2025.
Sombrero Chair
As the 60s became the 1970s, styles began to change. The Gambit and the Beverly Hills designs endured. George developed the Sombrero chair from moulded plastics.
Original drawing from 1968, prototype, and catalogue from 1970
Everything from and for the kitchen sink
George had a view on how to improve the design of more or less everything in the home from the kitchen sink to the bedroom cupboard. He was keenly interested in ergonomics and concerned to make using everyday objects easier for people.
Between 1955 and 1972, George worked for a manufacturer called Corfield-Sigg which produced stainless steel saucepans with plastic handles under the brand, Crown Merton.
Components and Solid Surfaces
George retained a lifelong interest in the use of modern materials, researching this subject until his death. His studio was an Aladdin's cave of samples that intrigued us when we were little. He was interested not only in the aesthetics but the ergonomics of fixtures and fittings.
In the pre-Internet age George amassed a huge collection of brochures and specifications provided by the various companies in the industries he wrote about. Regrettably, space dictated that most of these ended up in recycling.
George Fejer Some of His Writings
His Death and Legacy
Obituary of George written by Richard Crisp for Kitchens & Bathrooms Magazine.
Richard also gave the eulogy at my father's funeral.
