The department store Heal's dates back to 1810 and has a distiguished history.
Ambrose Heal, company director during the early 20th century, designed both Arts
and Crafts and modernist furniture.
Tom Worthington was Heal's Design Consultant during the sixties. He was among the
first to invest in contemporary textiles. Worthington had an open-minded approach to
buying fabric designs. He chose new schemes from freelance designers and recent
art school graduates. Heal's then worked together with the designers to come up with a
range of colourways in which to print the fabrics. An article in 'The Guardian'
(December 1970) explains that:
'Tom Worthington ...aimed to meet both contract and domestic requirements
and include designs which he knew would not be commercially successful,
but believed would set trends for the future.'
The range of fabrics on this page shows that Heal's was a leader
in this field. The designs they bought exemplified the changing moods
of the decade. They develop from sober colours and geometric shapes,
through Pop and Op Art-inspired motifs. In the later sixties they are influenced by
flower power and revival patterns then move towards the super-realism associated with
the early seventies. |
