Christopher Pratt and Sons Exhibition

I went to see the exhibition about Christopher Pratt and Sons at the Bradford Industrial Museum yesterday. Christopher Pratt’s were furnishers to the emerging middle class of 19th and early 20th century Bradford.

The exhibition traces the development of the business from its establishment in the 1860’s to the present day, with examples of furniture from the Art Nouveau style though to utility furniture of the 1940 and 50’s. There was a heavy emphasis on quarter sawn oak with much book matching of oak veneers. On the whole I found the furniture rather dour, perhaps matching the character of Bradfordians (I anticipate a stiff email from Mr Winder!).

Christopher Pratt’s no longer manufacture furniture, they are now an interiors shop in Leeds selling mainly imported furniture, a sign of the times.

I was generally disappointed with the exhibition, it did not really put the company into the context of the economic structure of Bradford at the time and some of displays were amateurish , especially of cabinet makers tools.

Although I was disappointed by the Pratt’s exhibition I found the rest of the museum fascinating, especially the textile equipment. There was a machine to perform every one of the many processes to transfer wool from the sheep to the garment, carding, teasing, slubbing, spinning, weaving etc etc. The ingenuity of the engineers of Bradford was amazing. They may have been dour, but they were bloody clever!