was an innovative era in many respects. Radio - wireless, as it was
called then - was just beginning to impact upon the public
consciousness. At first, sets, so called because they really were sets,
consisting of separate units, were housed in rather utilitarian
cabinets akin to those constructed for technical or scientific
instruments. What decoration there was bore some debt to traditional
clock case design. Embellishment of this sort for purely decorative
purpose was first to appear on the popular cabinet gramophone of the time - another
pseudo scientific instrument; but the early years of 1920s found a few
fledgling radio makers experimenting somewhat timidly with similar
decoration. The truth was that the buying public still thought of radio
as a scientific curiosity rather than a necessary adjunct to daily life.
Some crystal set makers were rather more daring, however, but in the
main these devices looked like and were sometimes considered to be toys
In the closing years of
the decade and into the very early 1930s, some of the efforts that appeared still showed the influence
of the organic, flowing natural forms of the Art Nouveau of previous
decades, which is odd considering that the 'twenties were the time of
Art Deco with its Egyptian motifs, angular styling and glossy, modernist
brashness. Perhaps it was a nostalgic glance backwards, or perhaps the
makers wanted to ensure that, whatever the taste of the prospective
purchaser, he or she would find something to suit! The Pye 'sunrise' cabinet design appears to hold elements of
both art forms in its simple fret motif.
It is fair to say that
as the 1930s proceeded, notwithstanding the Nouveau exceptions, most
styling tended to reflect the current trend in Deco adornment (or
perhaps, in certain modernist streamline styling, the almost complete lack of
In those pioneering
days of the late 20s and early 30s,
standardisation was largely unknown and dials, knobs and switches were one-off's
in many cases. The large full-vision dials we all take for granted had
yet to be thought of. Even terminology varied; some makers
referring to medium wave as short wave!
loudspeaker still reigned supreme almost to the end of the 1920s and the
tiny windowed tuning dial still predominated. This could be marked in
degrees or in metres and might or might not have been illuminated.
By 1931, generally
speaking the wireless
set had become the radio we can recognise as such today by having its
elements combined into one box (though still referred to by the term
'wireless set'). There were fewer controls, making radios easier to
understand and operate. The term 'user-friendly' had not arrived, but in
essence that is what gradually took place)
Ekco, among other
makers, took to employing true designers. One of their first efforts in
that respect was the 1931 RS3 housed in a very deco influenced cabinet
yet with a clearly Nouveau influenced 'trees' loudspeaker grille. The
similarly housed RS2 and RS3 models eschewed the trees for plain fabric.
Personally I think they look the better for it, but the trees remain
popular amongst the collectors of today. The design was by J.K. White,
the EKCO staff designer and was an early Bakelite
progress with Bakelite, the famous Avante Garde Canadian architect Wells
Coates was commissioned to design their 1934 AD65, the so-called 'round' Ekco so
popular with today's collectors. He produced variants on the theme for several years after.
employed by Ekco was Serge Chermayev, also an architect of the modernist
movement, who designed the AC64 (1933) among others.
Murphy radio employed
the services of R.D. Russell, the brother of the well known designer
Gordon Russell. Dick's uncompromising approach was
highly individual and so did not always gain universal approval but it definitely
made Murphy stand out from
Many setmakers tended to play safe and tone down the creative
ideas of their designers, but now and then caution was thrown to the
wind and a jewel appeared. Betty Joel designed the delightful wooden
cabinet of the strongly Deco-influenced K.B. 'Rejectostat' from 1933. Art Deco
styling lent itself admirably to the 'improving' of what were basic
Betty Joel was
born in 1896 in Hong Kong. Working with her husband David Joel, she formed
Betty Joel Ltd at Hayling Island, England, to make furniture. This was
after the end of WW1. Her output at that time, produced for her by a team
of craftsmen, is best described as a personalised and modernistic version of Arts and
Crafts plus elements of Georgian styling.
By the early 1930s, she
was attracted by modernism and opened a shop in Knightsbridge, London and
a factory in Kingston upon Thames, producing costly commissioned
furniture. She also designed carpets and textile designs, film and theatre
sets and even added her design flair to certain London boardrooms and
offices. She died in England in 1985.
* It is true that one
should not judge a book by its cover. Some of the most pleasing cabinet
designs belied a mediocre product within. This still holds true today, of
As the 'thirties
progressed and the technology advanced rapidly, more streamlined designs
appeared and simpler forms began to predominate. By the eve of war,
almost all receivers boasted a full-vision dial and several makers were
employing Bakelite as a cabinet material.
Radio had come of age.
Post war, the Deco
influence was still present in the output of some makers, though muted
and simplified. Good Bakelite examples with Deco leanings are the
Bakelite Pilot Little Maestro
series 2 and the Bush DAC90 and 90a series. It would have been
prohibitively expensive to construct some of the more intricate Bakelite designs in timber
By the 1950s, radio
design had become uniform and it was more difficult to judge the make
from external appearances - in much the same way as the motor car
industry is today.
The large, imposing
cabinets of the 1930s had shrunk to a shadow of their former glory by the end of the
1950s. Miniaturisation, more cost-effective mass production techniques
and advancing technology, plus the competition from television, left
only the large radiograms which were still part of the output from many
makers with any true 'presence' in the home, and often these became
exercises in cost-cutting. As the 1960s began, the transistor had all but ousted the valve table radio and
lighter, flimsier, cheaper and plainer cabinets became the standard.