It has been said that you can tell a lot about a person by the desk they sit behind. A cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind. So what can a phototgraph of a workbench tell us?

Photograph (detail), from album, 'International Model Aircraft Ltd', 1940s. Archive ref. LINE 2/2. Lines Bros. archive, V&A Museum of Childhood.

Looking closely at this bench, it appears to have been used by someone who was multi-skilled and able to turn their hand to anything. They would have been able to use a wide range of tools and equipment, ranging from the large, heavy metal mallet on the left to pieces of precision engineering such as the micrometer on the right.

This is not surprising – this bench was in was in the Design and Experimental Section of the Engine Development Section in the International Model Aircraft Ltd. factory at Merton, South London, part of the much larger Lines Bros. factory. This workshop was responsible for the design and refinement of the motors, such as the example below, used to power some of the IMA model aircraft.

Catalogue, 'International Model Aircraft Limited, FROG and Penguin', p.18, 1949. Archive ref. LINE 3/1/65. Lines Bros. archive, V&A Museum of Childhood.

This photograph is a section of one in an album in the Lines Bros. archive, and was taken in the late-1940s. Other photos in the same album include the drawing office, pattern shop, toolroom, model engine department and, surprisingly, the tropical packing department (items being transported to the tropics required specific packing, it seems). These, together with the other photo albums in the Lines Bros. archive, can help produce a more ‘intimate’ record of factory life and manufacturing, and possibly of the people who worked in it.

LINE 3/47, Lines Bros. archive, V&A Museum of Childhood.

Pedigree Prams and Tri-ang toys catalogues are sequentially numbered! A particularly dull fanfare to start this blog, but it does mean that many of the gaps I thought were in this series have now disappeared (i.e. List no. 14 is for Pedigree Prams, 1926-27, no. 15 is for Triang Toys for the same period, no. 16 is again for Pedigree Prams for 1927-28, and 17 again for Tri-ang toys etc, so we’re not missing every other catalogue for both ranges).

The Pedigree Pram catalogues have also been particularly engaging. The illustrations show something of the society through which the children using the prams were perceived as being pushed. There is usually a backdrop of a well-tended park, and the women pushing the prams are elegantly dressed or wearing a nanny’s uniform. Men are almost totally absent, a rare exception being when they are called upon to fold a pushchair to stow it in the back of a motor cruiser or light aircraft.

LINE 3/51, Lines Bros. archive, V&A Museum of Childhood.

This impression of affluence is continued in the names for the individual products. In the 1921-22 catalogue, naming conventions which continue to be used throught the company’s history emerge, although in a slightly haphazard way, with the ‘Joy’, ‘Ashdown’, ‘Bedford’, ‘Katrine’, ‘Cornwall’, ‘Devon’, ‘Essex’, ‘La France’, the ‘George’, ‘Hythe’, ‘Irene’, ‘Fairy’, ‘Unique’, ‘Oxford’ and ‘Prince’ all making an early appearance, soon joined by the ‘Happy’ and ‘De-Luxe Happy’. By 1938, however, the well-heeled, almost aristocratic names, with added connotations of heritage, have become more dominant. Prams now include the ‘Norfolk’, ‘Howard’, ‘Balmoral’, ‘Richmond’, ‘Holyrood’, ‘Grosvenor’, ‘Kensington’, ‘Buckingham’ and ‘Regal’, with the ‘Henley’, ‘York’, ‘Empire’, ‘Rex’, ‘Burlington’ and ‘Marlborough’ also included in the 1949 catalogue.

Another trend is the use of girl’s names. Apart from those already mentioned, from 1939 onwards the catalogue also includes the ‘Betty’, ‘Anne’, ‘Claire’, ‘Doris’, ‘Flora’, ‘Gwen’ and ‘Helen’. By 1952, although many of the original names are still in use, there is a subtle shift away from heritage, with the inclusion of more modern-sounding names such as the ‘Orion’, ‘Prestige’, ‘Supreme’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Vogue’ and ‘Fanfair’ appear.

Maybe you can read too much into a name, but, in conjunction with the images on the catalogue covers, this list does evoke a strong impression of a particular target market and a particular time. More so when it’s contrasted with names of contemporary ‘strollers’ such as the ‘Quest Sport’, ‘Techno XT’ and ‘XLR’, ‘Grand Tour LX Stroller’, ‘Zapp Xtra’, ‘Orbital 3’, ‘Swift Lite’, ‘Eagle’, ‘Capri’, ‘Malibu’, ‘Yo!’ and X-Lander X-Q Jungle.

A friend introduced me to the world of caravan names on a long trip down the motorway – it’s a game I’ll now be playing walking down the high street crowded with pushchairs.

Toy Fair is now over for another year. It’s been great fun, though tiring, to spend three days in the middle of it all. The second and third days were as busy as the first, and we’ve continued to meet with a variety of people connected with the toy trade. We also gave a brief presentation to design students, from a number of design courses at universities in London and further away, highlighting what the archives and object collections here at the Museum can offer in terms of source material on the history of design. This was part of a day of short talks and meetings with manufacturers for students to give them more of an insight into what working in the design side of the industry is like. 

The great thing about being able to spend time here is that you really appreciate what a varied business toys can be. A sample of the business cards we collected contains job titles such as senior play futurist, inventor, retailer, company director and founder, designer, imagineer, marketing director, corporate responsibility manager, product tester, agent, buying controller, merchandiser, trade mark attorney, demonstrator and even the odd magician (and this list doesn’t include those people who actually work in the factories producing the goods). And they’re all, in their own way, trying to find the next big thing, the next revolutionary new game or play pattern. The other thing is, after spending three days in this environment populated by flying fish, 6-foot Lego figures, miniature robots, puppets, dancing monkeys, pigs in teacups etc., the real world seems a bit more grey and lifeless than it did a few days ago. We've landed back in Kansas with a bump.

The third and final challenge to Santa again demonstrates how closely toys can reflect the particular time and culture in which they are produced. During periods of war and conflict, for example, toys and games demonstrate surprisingly clearly how feelings of hostility or unity towards and with different nationalities and groups change, as allies and enemies shift. As such, you probably won’t have much luck finding these games.

Leon L’Hollier catalogue, undated [c.1910]. Makers’ Files archive, V&A Museum of Childhood.

But, contentious though it is, you might be able to get hold of this modern, though satirical equivalent.

War on Terror. The Boardgame. TerrorBull Games. Image ©V&A Museum of Childhood.

Happy Christmas from everyone working on the Project.