The room will be on display in the Museum of 51 at the Royal Festival Hall for four months over the summer (April 22-September 4) and will be seen by some 200,000 visitors.
With its bright colours and abstract, atomic-inspired patterns by designers who made their name at the original festival, the Homes & Antiques Living Room will whisk visitors back to the 1950s as well as reflecting the ongoing vogue for many of these designs today.
Homes & Antiques’ resident stylist Kiera Buckley-Jones has scoured the country for suitable vintage items and the room will feature an Ercol sofa, an original GW Evans sideboard, G-Plan dining table and chairs, and vivid 1950s fabrics and wallpapers re-issued by Sanderson. The public will be encouraged to record their memories of the 1951 event and impressions of the current celebrations on an interactive telephone placed in the room.
The magazine team was invited to create the room by designers Wayne and Gerardine Hemmingway, following the success of a smaller Homes & Antiques 1950s living room at the Hemmingways’ Vintage at Goodwood festival last August.
Angela Linforth, Editor of Homes & Antiques, commented: “The Festival of Britain was a landmark event for design in Britain and we're sure these 60th anniversary celebrations will attract huge interest, among both the design world and the general public. We’re delighted to have such a strong presence at the Royal Festival Hall and we hope it will introduce many new readers to our brand and everything it has to offer.”
