Tibor Reich

Tibor Reich ATI, FSIA, FRSA (1 October 1916 – 3 February 1996) was a British textile designer.

His company, Tibor Ltd., produced designs featured in projects including the Festival of Britain, Concorde, Royal Yacht Britannia, Coventry Cathedral, Clarence House and the QE2.

Reich was born in Budapest in 1916 to a family of wealthy Jewish textile industrialists.

Encouraged by his father, he drew from a young age.

In 1933, he left Budapest to study textile design and architecture in Vienna, where he was influenced by the legacy of the Wiener Werkstätte and the Bauhaus.

With the rise of Nazism in 1937 Reich emigrated to Britain to study textiles at Leeds University.

Reich achieved a first-class result in the City and Guilds Institute examination in Woolen and Worsted Weaving.

He was awarded a diploma from the institute in Textile Industries in September 1941, following the submission of a thesis titled 'The Economical Production of Novelty Fabrics'.

After graduating from Leeds, Reich went to work for Tootal of Bolton, but left after a year.

In 1946 Reich moved to Stratford upon Avon and set up Tibor Ltd in a nineteenth-century mill at Clifford Chambers.

From his studio, he established a small weaving unit, where he designed and manufactured speciality fabrics.

His early weaves were purchased for dress couture, including by Edward Molyneux who used them for their 1946 United States export collection.

In 1947, Reich submitted one of his first hand woven furnishing fabric designs for selection by Princess Elizabeth.

It was chosen as a wedding gift presented by the International Wool Secretariat.

By 1948, Reich was employing over 50 staff and had won a $100,000 order from Hambro House of Design in New York.

Up until the early 1950s, British textiles, in particular furnishing fabrics, showed little consideration to colour, texture and modern pattern, with most relying on traditional motifs and woven in a simple process.

Inspired by the Bauhaus and his pre-war training, Reich's deep textures were woven to give a third dimension to the surface pattern.

Reich was commissioned to drape many projects in the 1950s.

Other projects in the 1950s included London Airport (Heathrow), Arts Council UK, Berkeley and Washington Hotel, Renfrew Airport, Coventry Cathedral and the 1958 British Pavilion at the World's Fair, Brussels.

Pieces were often inspired by Hungarian folk art, and re-interpreted in a modern 1950s style.

In 1951, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the American Institute of Decorators.

In 1952, Reich had his first solo major show named 'Deep Textures with Rayon' at the Rayon Industry Design Centre designed by Hulme Chadwick.

In 1952, Reich designed his own studio pottery range called Tigo-Ware to create pottery to coordinate with his deep textured fabric.

He originally created the pottery from the back shed at his cottage.

In 1953, ICI commissioned Tibor to weave and design a tapestry for their coronation celebrations (also shown at the 10th Milan Triennial) and in 1958, Sanderson commissioned five tapestries to celebrate their 100th anniversary.

Tibor fabrics were also commissioned by BOAC, Conair, Hawker Siddeley planes and Cunard ships including RMS Empress of England, RMS Queen Elizabeth, RMS Ivernia and RMS Saxonia.

He also acted as a designer for Quayle and Tranter, Wilton, Denby, Stockwell, and Bigelow and Sanford, USA.

Tibor also collaborated with Courtaulds on seating fabrics for Vauxhall motor cars.

Michael Farr stated in 1954 that Reich had started a 'new phase in the development of British modern design for woven textiles.' Terrance Conran stated in 1957 "Tibor Reich is internationally known for his woven and printed textiles. The texture and weave of the cloth to be printed on are especially considered in his designs'

Reich designed deep textures for the Festival of Britain including the Southbank Festival Pavilions, Fairway Café, the Press Room, and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, where he draped and upholstered the entire building.

Major furniture manufacturers upholstered using Tibor fabrics including Ernest Race, Gordon Russell, Robin Day, Howard Keith, G Plan and Ercol.

In 1954, Liberty and the Council of Industrial Design held a solo show of Reich's work named 'Adventure with Colour', opened by Percy Thomas.

It would later travel around the UK.

In 1954, Hugh Casson and Misha Black chose Tibor fabrics to drape the Royal Yacht Britannia and Time and Life Building.

Demand soon outgrew their facilities and was by 1954, the pottery was produced in Denby.

The Council of Industrial Design included over fourteen of the Tigo pieces in their design review, which was an illustrated record of British designs.

As a range it had a style that was sophisticated, highlighted by flashes of gentle humour.

Pieces ranged from utilitarian to sculptural.

The expressing curving lines were scratched using the scraffito technique to expose the white earthenware body beneath.

Reich was awarded a Design Council Award in 1957 and a Textile Institute Medal in 1973.