British Interior Design since 1925: A Critical History

by Bruce Peter, Drew Plunkett

Overview

After the First World War, Interior Design emerged in Britain as a distinctive profession, one that used fresh eyes and imagination to transform edifices old and new into environments that satisfied aesthetic appetites and enhanced the experiences of those who used them. This is the first critical account of the history of Interior Design in Britain, one that is distinct from that of Architecture, and which gives the profession a sense of its own identity. Set within the social, cultural, economic and political contexts which exercised and shaped creative imaginations across the 20th century, the book examines both interior design (principally commercial projects) and interior decoration (principally domestic projects).

In contrast to 20th-century architecture, which often imposed its philosophy onto its clients, interior design and decoration were more responsive to the nuances and rapid changes of popular taste. Interiors therefore moved at a much faster pace, from the elegant Art Deco of the Savoy and Claridge's hotels, to the modernist interiors of the 1950s such as the Royal Festival Hall, to retail work in the 1980s for the likes of Joseph and Next, to clubs and restaurants in the 1990s such as the Atlantic Bar and Grill, and concluding with 21st-century offices and domestic interiors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848225626
Publisher:	Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
Publication date:	03/06/2026
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.88(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bruce Peter is the Professor of Design History in the Glasgow School of Art’s School of Design. He has researched and published extensively on modern architecture and design for transport, pleasure and hospitality. Drew Plunkett, a former academic and occasional practitioner, has been an observer and chronicler of the emergence of a distinctly British approach to interior design and of the national and international phenomena that have shaped it.

Table of Contents

Introduction: British interiors and design debates before 1920; 1. After the Paris Exposition: the first Art Deco interiors in London’s West End; 2. Un-domestic domesticity: homes and lifestyles of a shifting establishment; 3. Ocean liner style: grandeur and modernity afloat; 4. High street populism: jazz moderne and streamform for retail and entertainment; 5. Moving On; 6. Subversion and regression; 7. Edifices Crumble; 8. Anarchy in the UK; 9. White seemed right; 10. Richer mixes; 11. Recession and resuscitation; 12. Digitising and sustaining

Editorial Reviews

‘This book is the definitive history that traces the evolution of twentieth and twenty first century British Interior Design. Its authors demonstrate, with an eclectic mix of projects, how British designers freed themselves from the conventions of architecture and created environments that responded with pragmatic creativity to the times in which they have lived. It is an essential read for scholars, historians - and every occupant of an interior.’ – Professor Graeme Brooker, Head of Interior Design at the Royal College of Art, London. Author of The Story of the Interior (2025).

From the Publisher