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NATHAN

When Barnett Nathan, a furniture maker of Russian origin, began to manufacture handcrafted pieces of furniture in OUR STORY IS AN INTERESTING ONE
1916, it was the middle of the Great War and perhaps not the ideal time to embark on a furniture making business.
Indeed Barnett soon had to supplement income by manufacturing munitions boxes for the Government. At the end of
the war Barnett was joined by his two brothers and despite the great hardships of the time, the three of them were
able to use their furniture making skills to develop a business with a reputation in the trade for fine craftsmanship and
good quality.

In 1952 the second generation of the family came into the business. Barnett's sons Jerrold and Clive were the
catalysts for developing a brand name. The Company began to specialize in dining room furniture and invested
heavily in designing and marketing its products.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION WAS GAINED IN 1954 WHEN

THE COMPTON DINING SUITE WAS CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE

BEST OF BRITISH DESIGN AT A MAJOR FURNITURE ExHIBITION IN

NEW YORK. A STEADY STREAM OF NEW AND CONTEMPORARY

PRODUCTS WERE qUICKLY BROUGHT TO THE MARKET.

The most successful of which was the Courtier dining suite which was light mahogany in colour with contrasting black
legs - quite a radical design for its day.

In 1963 Barnett's eldest son Jerrold took the brave decision to develop a Scandinavian styled range in teak - a decision
that was to mould the company’s future and influence the products that we sell to this day. Under advertisements
proclaiming 'Scandinavia Design by Nathan' the first range of teak furniture called Citadel was launched. Now
considered to be a design classic, the styling was simple and elegant with no decoration other than plain recessed
handles.

Citadel was an outstanding success and other teak ranges quickly followed.

Throughout the 1960's Jerrold Nathan continued to experiment with interesting new looks (primarily in teak) and the
Company moved further up-market with the launch of an innovative sideboard with a circle pattern cut into the
veneer on the doors.

1970 saw the introduction of the 1024 sideboard which was the first piece featuring the distinctive Jacobean door
design and as such was the foundation piece of the 'Classic Collection’. This unit attracted an unexpectedly large
amount of public interest and by 1972 the designer, Patrick Lee, had introduced a range of wall units in the same
style. Patrick's vision was to create a range of furniture for dining and living rooms, or to blend between the two with
one consistent look. These design principles of flexibility and collectability have ensured that our Classic range of
furniture has been a success for over 35 years and is one of the best selling furniture collections of all time.