About Betty Joel

Betty Joel was one of interwar Britain’s most progressive and enigmatic designers. During a short career that spanned less than two decades, she worked at the forefront of the movement now known as Art Deco, acting as chief designer and figurehead for the eponymous brand she founded along with her husband David. This is the fascinating untold story of one of the era’s foremost businesswomen, whose pioneering entrepreneurial spirit and keen eye for design led her to help define the look and spirit of the age, before suddenly turning her back on her career, never to re-visit it again.

Designing furniture and rugs, as well as home appliances such as radios and stoves, she won critical acclaim and numerous accolades for her work, including prizes at the Royal Academy and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Starting out from their house on Hayling Island, they quickly expanded to a large purpose-built factory in Kingston upon Thames and it is estimated that over 80 craftsmen were employed through the short lifespan of the business.

Betty designed and manufactured furniture for many of the iconic interiors of the era such as the Daily Express building, The Savoy, Hay’s Wharf and Coutts Bank, alongside private commissions for the likes of Winston Churchill, Earl Mountbatten and John Betjeman. Working with architects, particularly Harry Goodhart-Rendel, her craftsmen created acres of panelling and hundreds of doors for notable schemes in London and elsewhere.

A shop at 25 Knightsbridge bore her name above the door in large illuminated letters and included showrooms, a gift shop and a gallery where modern French pictures by Matisse, Dufy and Marie Laurencin were exhibited. She mixed in social circles alongside iconic figures of the day such as Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and her forthright theories on design were published in newspapers and journals around the world.

Substantial collections of her work are now held in the V&A and London’s Museum of the Home, along with private collections such as that of Marc Jacobs.

This book, written by Betty’s great-nephew Clive Stewart-Lockhart and published 40 years after her passing, tells the story of a trailblazing businesswoman and offers the chance to reappraise her career and legacy. It includes over 400 illustrations, many never previously published, from private collections and photo archives. The text includes much unseen detail drawn from her own diaries, David’s unpublished memoirs and personal recollections, and includes a foreword by Paul Atterbury.