Founded in 1936 by Cecilia Dunbar Kilburn and Athole Hay, this London gallery (the term shop was actually their preferred term) was created as a marriage bureau for promising young designers (mostly Royal College of Art graduates) and industry. Within four years it had closed for the Second World War, and its stock and records destroyed by bombing. There is virtually no paper record, nor any photographs of the shop, but a 1979 lecture given by Cecilia Dunbar Kilburn (by then Lady Sempill) serves as a starting point to recreate the goods and ethos of the shop, which has been immortalised by a flamboyant two-colour trade card engraved by Eric Ravilious.
From the collection of John Commander (1927-2021), designer, lithographer and publisher. Loosely inserted is a note from Simon Lawrence, dated 2018, to John Commander thanking him for lunch, presenting him with this books and mentioning that J.C. was supposed to have had lunch with Cecilia Dunbar Kilburn on the day she died.