Jack Pritchard

John Craven (Jack) Pritchard (8 June 1899 in Hampstead, London – 27 April 1992 in Blythburgh, Suffolk) was a British furniture designer, who was very influential between the First and Second World Wars. His work is exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of London. He was a member of the Design and Industries Association.

Life

Pritchard was born in Hampstead, son of Clive Fleetwood Pritchard, a successful barrister, and thus a descendent of Andrew Pritchard, businessman and scientist. He was educated at Oundle School and Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.

In 1924 he married Rosemary (Molly) Cooke, a psychiatrist (1900 - 1985); they had two sons, Jonathan and Jeremy, born in 1926 and 1928. Jack also had a daughter, Jennifer, with Beatrix Tudor Hart, a pioneering educator.

For many years he and his wife lived in the famous Lawn Road Flats, also known as the Isokon Flats. They retired to a house named "Isokon" in Dunwich Road, Blythburgh, designed by Jennifer and her husband Colin Jones. The house was controversially called 8 Angel Lane.

Designs

The house was named after Isokon Jack’s business established in London, 1931 where he worked with some of the finest furniture designs. His most famous products being the Long Chair designed by Marcel Breuer, 1936 and the Penguin Donkey designed for Pritchard's friend Allen Lane by Egon Riss, 1939 both of which are still in production and made using shaped multi-ply (plywood) construction.

References and sources

References

Sources

• Grieve, Alastair. 2004. Isokon: For Ease, For Ever. London: Isokon Plus. ISBN 0-9548676-0-2
• Jack Pritchard — The Pritchard Papers, UEA Norwich
• John Craven Pritchard (Jack) — Archives Hub
• Isokon at Blythburgh — Alan Mackley
• Isokon Designers — Isokon Plus

Publications

J. Pritchard, View from a Long Chair - the Memoirs of Jack Pritchard, Sydney, Australia : Law Book Co of Australasia, 1984. ISBN 978-0710202314