1960’s Teak ‘Fresco' Sideboard by G-Plan (UK)

A beautifully designed & crafted large 1960’s/70’s teak sideboard manufactured by G-Plan of Great Britain, designed as part of the popular Danish Range called 'Fresco'. A very rare and desirable piece that would bring a touch of classic Mid-Century elegance to any interior space. Often referred to as the "long john"

 

The Fresco sideboard was and still remains one of G Plan’s most popular ranges designed by V. B. Wilkins. This sculpted look was typical of the Fresco style with contoured solid teak drawers, cupboard pulls and a warm teak wood grain throughout. The colour and wood grain pattern are truly spectacular.

 

Featuring contrasting teak door & drawer handles, two cupboards in a darker Afromosia to add contrast and compliment the lighter teak to the main part of the sideboard, each with an adjustable shelf inside flank four middle drawers, which includes the cutlery tray in the top drawer, all with dovetailed joints. The sideboard is beautifully finished with match grain teak throughout and is set on an elegant and sturdy new, according to original specifications, solid wood leg frame.


 

The Fresco range was G Plan's definitive range of Danish Scandinavian-style furniture. Designed by V B Wilkins and first introduced in 1967 and has now become a classic iconic piece of 1960s/70’s designed furniture.

 

Very good vintage condition, thoroughly cleaned, lightly sanded and sealed. The top is in excellent vintage condition with only one area that has a darker mark but it is only slight. 

 

It's a rare find and a true collector's item, and it will be a great investment in both quality and style.

 

Dimensions:


Width: 213cm
 Height: 80cm
 Depth: 46cm



Cupboards:
 Width: 79cm
 Height: 45cm



Drawers:
 Width: 43cm
 Height: 8.5cm

 

 

Background Information:

G Plan were a British Furniture maker. The fresco range Launched in the 1960s was the most popular range of furniture sold by G plan, designed by V.B. Wilkins and heavily inspired by Danish/Scandinavian design.

 

G-Plan British furniture manufacturing company G-Plan was launched in 1953, but its roots go back much further. In 1898, Ebenezer Gomme (1858–1931) set up a fine woodworking atelier, E. Gomme Ltd., in High Wycombe, England, a major center of British furniture manufacturing. By the early 1900s, E. Gomme had transitioned into a larger factory facility, and in 1911, his sons took the helm. The company was revered for its range of high-quality sideboards, tables, and other cabinet goods and for pioneering the concept of dining room sets, designed and made to match. E. Gomme continued to flourish until the 1940s. During World War II, Britain experienced a timber shortage and the British government was forced to enact strict controls on “unnecessary” industries like furniture production. This led to a program called the Utility Scheme, which was intended to cultivate a market for more austere and utilitarian solutions to home goods. Among the program’s efforts, the landmark 1946 Britain Can Make It exhibition at the V&A Museum made great strides in swaying the British public toward more modernist tastes. And among the exhibition’s visitors was Ebenezer Gomme’s grandson, Donald (1916-2005), who was greatly inspired by what he saw there. With the success of the next exhibition in this program, The Festival of Britain—which presented work by modern designers like Robin and Lucienne Day at London’s South Bank in 1951—Donald Gomme became certain that a radical, more minimalist aesthetic was about the sweep the furniture design industry. Thus began G-Plan, an offshoot of the traditional furniture company E. Gomme Ltd. Although most of the British public reverted to traditional tastes after the war, there was a small but growing market for high-quality, modernist furniture, and G-Plan successfully spoke to this younger, more progressive audience. Through clever marketing campaigns, G-Plan set the standard for modernist, mass-market furniture in postwar Britain. G-Plan’s C Range, with an aesthetic that celebrated its machine production, was launched in 1953, and by 1957 it had become enormously popular. Donald Gomme stepped down from G-Plan in 1958, confident in the strength of the company that he had built. By the 1960s, the Scandinavian look was sweeping international design, and British-made furniture was being outsold by Danish imports. To compete, G-Plan brought in Danish designer Ib Kofod-Larsen to create new collections in fine woods, like teak and rosewood. While these Kofod-Larsen pieces have become very collectible today, at the time, they were not well appreciated by the design community—perhaps viewed as lesser variations on the furniture available from Scandinavia. Despite the competition, G-Plan remained one of the most recognized names in furniture manufacturing in the UK through the end of the 1970s.  In 1987 the Gomme family sold the business to the then directors, who, three years later, sold it to the Christie Tyler Group. In 1996, the Morris Furniture Group acquired the license to make and market G-Plan Cabinet furniture in Glasgow. This operates separately from the upholstery business, G-Plan Upholstery Ltd., which continues to manufacture most of its sofa and armchair products in the UK.

 

A guide to G Plan furniture - https://www.vinterior.co/blog/behind-the-design/the-history-of/guide-to-g-plan-furniture/