Biography
Founded in 1936 by Cecilia Dunbar-Kilburn (1903-1984) and Athole Hay (1901-1938), Dunbar Hay Ltd (the term shop was actually their preferred term) was created as a marriage bureau for promising young designers (mostly Royal College of Art graduates) and industry. Within four years it had closed for the Second World War, and its stock and records destroyed by bombing. There is virtually no paper record, nor any photographs of the shop, but a 1979 lecture given by Cecilia Dunbar-Kilburn (by then Lady Sempill) serves as a starting point to recreate the goods and ethos of the shop, which has been immortalised by a flamboyant two-colour trade card engraved by Eric Ravilious.
