Liberty & Co - Regent Street , London

Welcome to the Liberty & Co Page at So Nouveau

.....Liberty & Co was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) in 1875. He was managing the Oriental Warehouse owned by Farmer and Rogers before opening his own shop called East India House at 218a Regent Street, London. Importing goods from across the world, but mainly Asia. retailing wares such as Persian Rugs, Furntiure, Jewellery, Metalware and Curios. At some point in the late 1890s (97-98) after already selling Kayserzinn pewter wares successfully he started to sell their new range of Art Nouveau Pewter. The firm Kayserzinn of Krefeld, Germany had its own new prolific designers such as Hugo Leven, Hermann Fauser and Karl Berhoff. With the invention of the Huber press, mass production was now available for a lot more items, This was to go against the likes of Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft who believed in the timeserved tradition of handmade / handcrafted items , each being individual and unique.

 

.....By this time Liberty & Co were producing their silverware range known as Cymric (pro- Koomric) with Archibald Knox as the main designer, incorporating Celtic designs which Arthur Lasenby Liberty was to become fascinated by after a trip to Ireland. In 1899 an exhibition was held in the Liberty & Co shop to show off their new range of Jewellery (Gold and Silver jewellery is both known as Cymric). It was around this time that Liberty & Co had started a venture with a Birmingham Silversmith called William H Haseler, who went on to producing the Silver and Pewter range for Liberty & Co. With the Silver range being expensive, in about 1902 the Pewter ware known as Tudric was introduced ( known as poor mans silver ) to appeal to the masses. Liberty & Co went on to open several retail outlets in Paris , Scotland and even New Zealand . I am often questioned as to why all my Pewter is highly polished and the answer is simple, and remains the same everytime 'It is meant to be shiny , It was back in 1902 and it should be today'. Jay Lewis 2009. It is obviously personal choice but the Celtic Entrelac is much more defined and highlighted when it is highly polished, on some Archibald Knox pieces the pattern is hardly noticeable until it is polished.