https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/may/15/william-plunkett
William Plunkett (1928 – 2013) was born in India, moving to Britain in 1946 to join the Royal Artillery. After leaving the army in 1959, he attended Kingston School of Art to study basic design, furniture design and sculpture. After a stint working for A. and R. Duckworth Ltd (Aidron Duckworth had been a tutor at college), he founded William Plunkett Ltd in 1963. By 1977, he had sold William Plunkett Ltd to Giroflex, setting up Plunkett Plan Ltd the following year.
His upmarket designs retailed in department stores such as Heal’s and Liberty. His modernist pieces furnished embassies and leisure, business and retail outlets; including IBM, Russell & Bromley, Clarks, Ravel, Peter Lord and a bar on the QE2.
He was a multiple winner of Council of Industrial Design (CoID) awards. He won twice in 1968 for his Reigate rocking chair (seen top left in the above montage) and his Coulsdon coffee table (bottom right).
Reflecting on his long career, he revealed:
My generation of designers were idealists. We really believed we could make a difference to Britain by producing well-designed products.
Vintage examples of Plunkett’s furniture designs are available on 1stDibs and Etsy. Alternatively, twentytwentyone have reissued some of his designs.
