About this product
A midcentury G Plan Sierra range teak sideboard, circa 1960s, with three drawers and two cabinet sections. Very good restored condition.
With G-plan label.
G Plan is a British furniture brand. It began as a pioneering range of furniture in the United Kingdom produced by E Gomme Ltd of High Wycombe. The success of G Plan led to E Gomme becoming one of the UK’s largest furniture manufacturers, with profits increasing sixfold between 1952 and 1958 when it was floated as an IPO. Since 2005, G Plan has been a subsidiary of Sofa Brands International.
History.
In 1953, Donald Gomme, the designer at E Gomme, decided to produce a range of modern furniture for the entire house which could be bought piece-by-piece according to budgets. Advertising was part of the plan from the beginning. The name was coined by Doris Gundry of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, and the furniture was advertised in magazines and in cinemas direct to the public. Designs were available for several years so people could collect them slowly. All furniture was marked with a distinctive brand mark.
Another part of the direct marketing was the showrooms where the public could see the furniture. There were small centres in the country, and “The G Plan Gallery” in Vogue House, St George Street, Hanover Square in London. Donald Gomme left the company in 1958, perhaps the peak of the company’s success.
In the early 1960s the government introduced restrictions on hire purchase (the most common method of purchasing furniture), and in response to competition from Danish furniture the company introduced a Danish Modern range (designed by Ib Kofod-Larsen), which made the rest of the range seem dated.[clarification needed][citation needed] Gomme lost their market-leading position, though they continued to be a major manufacturer making innovative designs with a very well known brand name.
In 1987 the Gomme family – major shareholders in the company – decided to retire. They sold the business to the then directors, who, three years later, sold it to the Christie Tyler group of companies. In 1996 the Morris Furniture Group acquired the licence to make and market G Plan Cabinet furniture in Glasgow, operating separately to the upholstery business. G Plan Upholstery Ltd, now based at a modern factory and offices near Melksham, Wiltshire, continues to manufacture most of its sofa and armchair products in the UK.
