Antique Art Deco Betty Joel Token Furniture Walnut and Cedar Double Wardrobe, c 1935

Betty Joel Ltd’s range of furniture was named ‘Token Furniture’ and was first exhibited at the Ideal Home Exhibition, 1922 and the following year the company launched the teak ‘Vanity Set’. The quality of chosen woods was used to build the reputation of the business with such names as ‘Queensland Silky Oak’ and ‘Flowered Oak’ adopted; the Joels also promoted that the furniture was hand-made. Influences on furniture designs may have also included Korean & Chinese furniture and naval furnishings, as David was originally a Naval Officer in the Far East and Betty’s father worked in China. Modern technology was incorporated into designs; like ‘flame’ electric lights incorporated in a cheval mirror. The acknowledgement of craftsmanship was important to the Joels and their case furniture bore a small plaque, behind glass, with a typed inscription of where and when it was made, and the signatures of the craftsman and Betty Joel herself. All the furniture on display in their various showrooms and sold over the years was of their design and manufacture.

The firm originally had a small workshop on Hayling Island with showroom on Sloane Street. Later the factory moved to larger premises in Portsmouth. In the early 1930s another move was required and, possibly through contacts made during Betty’s education in England, Harry Stuart Goodhard-Rendel was commissioned to design a new modernist factory at Tolworth for Betty Joel Ltd; this opened in 1934. Joel & Goodhard-Rendel further collaborated on the furniture for St Olaf House, Hay’s Wharf, Tooley Street, London in the early 1930s; rosewood and leather tub chair (V&A: W.15:2-1993) and desk (V&A: W.13:1 to 4-1883) illus. Stewart-Lockhart (2022), p. 237. In the 1930s there were probably eighty employees in the factory including the men making doors and panelling, which was never signed, and Fred Hopkins was the works foreman.

By 1929 the Joels had purchased a terraced house at 25 Knightsbridge. This housed their flat, a gallery (originally built as a ballroom) and basement gift shop. The gallery was used to display room settings and also housed special exhibitions, in particular one to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. The firm furnished a number of show homes on modern developments including Gidea Park, in Essex and Brighton and this concept of marketing led Betty Joel Ltd to rent a flat in Park Lane in 1932, which was presented to visitors as a show flat. Betty’s diaries of the period note the weekly takings of a total of £300 in a good week.  David estimated that the business sold approximately £250,000 worth of stock between 1921-39.