Hille furniture

The Hille furniture company was founded by Salamon Hille in the East End of London in 1906. Hille was a Russian emigre and started the company to renovate and reproduce 18th century furniture. The company is still in operation today.

From the outset the focus was on quality rather than quantity and Hille hired skilled craftsmen which ensured they gained a good reputation and gaining customers such as Hamptons, a well known furniture retailer.

They had established an international reputation by the 1930s and Hille’s daughter, Ray joined the firm and she worked with them to produce original designs. Salamon retired and in 1932 Ray took over the business and registered it as a limited company.

The war years proved very difficult for the company as their premises were destroyed in 1940 in bombing raids. This further exacerbated the difficulties caused by the war with the smaller number of commissions and restriction on wood for furniture makings. Ray Hille managed to persuade the V&A curators to recommend her company to the City Guildhalls for the repair of bomb damaged furniture. New timber was unobtainable, so they worked to source old timber which they re-worked for the repairs.

After the war restrictions and rationing continued, so they could only make quality furniture for export to overseas customers. They focused on this and built up a sizeable market in the United States. Their fortunes went through various ups and downs, but in 1961 they were able to open new offices designed by Erno Goldfinger, the Hungarian modernist architect who is best remembered for designing the Elephant and Castle development.

In 1963 Hille pioneered the development of the ‘Polyside’ chair, a polypropylene chair that was moulded in one piece which was completely revolutionary at the time. They ran an inspired marketing campaign, sending out over 600 units to major architects, designers and government buyers. It resulted in the sale of millions of the chairs and the design is now ubiquitous in offices, factories, shops and other most other communal spaces.