Original designs for furniture, textiles, wallpaper, leadlights and stained glass
The Caroline Simpson Library holds a significant range of original designs for furniture, furnishing textiles, wallpaper, leadlight windows and stained glass from the late 19th and 20th centuries.
It includes the archives of influential designers, mostly practising in Australia, and complements the large collection of trade catalogues, sample books, ephemera and historical wallpapers and textiles. Together, the collection traces the development of design practices, production techniques and aesthetic trends shaping domestic, commercial and ecclesiastical interiors in NSW and beyond.
Each of the archives listed below includes original designs. Cataloguing for a number of these archives is ongoing, so listings may not capture the full range of the material in the collection.
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How to use the Caroline Simpson Library
You will find items from the Caroline Simpson Library in both our library catalogue and objects catalogue
Furniture
André Decorations
A collection of approximately 400 furniture design drawings, sketches and reference materials from the 1950s and 60s. The identity of the designer, who signed the designs ‘André’, is not currently known. A wide variety of styles are represented, from historical revivalist to mid-century modern.
Boyce & Brigden
A collection of 25 mid-century printed designs for Boyce & Brigden Pty Ltd – Sydney cabinet-makers and furniture manufacturers with a factory in Erskineville. Boyce & Brigden was established sometime in the late 1940s and liquidated in 1982.
The Paul Kafka (Vienna) Archive
This collection consists of over 700 furniture design drawings by various Central European designers dating from between about 1920 and 1939. It originates from Vienna, Austria, where Paul Kafka (1907–1972) worked for his father’s furniture business before emigrating to Australia.
Susan Kozma-Orlay (1913–2008)
Archive of interior design, furniture design and graphic design work by Australian-Hungarian designer Susan Kozma-Orlay. The archive spans Kozma-Orlay’s career in Australia from 1947 to the 1990s.
![J. Ratner & Co. Pty Ltd., furniture manufacturers, Newtown (NSW): Business records, trade catalogues and ephemera [archive]](https://api.mhnsw.au/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.mhnsw.au%2Ffotoweb%2Fembed%2F2026%2F05%2F86ec7899e329487db5b290c753b9d934.jpg&w=1920&h=400&fit=inside&format=webp)
J Ratner & Co
J Ratner & Co Pty Ltd was founded in Sydney in around 1910 by Joseph Ratner (1872–1960), a Russian-born cabinet-maker who emigrated to Australia in 1904. The business operated for over 70 years. The Caroline Simpson Library holds documents, ephemera and a small number of original furniture designs produced by the firm.
![Archive of design drawings, sketches and photographs associated with Emmerich Révész later known as Emery Thomas Reeves / Emmerich Révész [personal papers]](https://api.mhnsw.au/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.mhnsw.au%2Ffotoweb%2Fembed%2F2026%2F05%2Ff3b42efdedd34fe484ac6b0b3512547d.jpg&w=1920&h=400&fit=inside&format=webp)
Emery Thomas Reeves / Emmerich Révész (1897–1958)
Archive of design drawings, sketches and photographs associated with Emmerich Révész, who was later known as Emery Thomas Reeves. Designs reflect Révész’s career in Austria and Australia.
Ricketts & Thorp
Original designs by Sydney-based furniture manufacturing company Ricketts & Thorp. The firm operated from 1912 to 1977 and often produced bespoke furniture according to customer specifications, including producing pieces for designers Marion Hall Best, Artes Studios, Stuart Lowe Furniture Studios, and many others.
![George N. Surtees archive / George N. Surtees [archive]](https://api.mhnsw.au/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.mhnsw.au%2Ffotoweb%2Fembed%2F2026%2F05%2Fd8abfb28c80c435cbebcd188bef8580c.jpg&w=1920&h=400&fit=inside&format=webp)
George N Surtees (1922–2019)
Archive including elements of George Surtees’s work as an employee of furniture designer Paul Kafka and as an independent interior designer. Surtees emigrated to Australia in 1951, and the archive covers photographs, documents and drawings from the 1960s to 2013.
Frederick William Tod (1879–1958)
Archive of over 100 design drawings for ecclesiastical furniture by Frederick William Tod, designer and ecclesiastical craftsperson. Tod emigrated to Australia from England in 1915 and established factory premises in Sydney. After his business went bankrupt in the 1930s he worked from his home in Kensington, Sydney.
Textiles and wallpaper
Ronaele Jones (1945–2010)
Archive of biographical material, ephemera, textiles, sample books and original designs amassed by Ronaele Jones over a 40-year career as a designer and colourist of commercially produced printed furnishing textiles and wall coverings. Jones studied at the East Sydney Technical College before working as a staff artist for Wilson Fabrics Australia, and for Sanderson in England, and as a freelance designer for a variety of Australian and international firms. Cataloguing of this material is currently in progress.
![[Set of watercolour designs for window drapery and portieres] : drawn for David Jones / by Frederick Leist [design drawings]](https://api.mhnsw.au/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.mhnsw.au%2Ffotoweb%2Fembed%2F2026%2F05%2F9f9eeac494cc43bab69b905a10f82a37.jpg&w=1920&h=400&fit=inside&format=webp)
Frederick Leist (1873–1945)
Frederick Leist was an Australian artist and illustrator. Early in his career he trained as a furniture designer under the guidance of Francis Dickin and was employed by department store and furniture manufacturer David Jones & Co. Leist’s designs for drapery and furniture were originally found inserted into a David Jones & Co catalogue from around 1895.
John Graham Butterworth (1920–2006) of Carpet Manufacturers Limited
Over 100 colour carpet designs drawn by John Graham Butterworth between 1945 and 1947 for Sydney-based broadloom carpet company Carpet Manufacturers Limited. From 1938 to 1973, Carpet Manufacturers Limited produced broadloom wool carpets locally from its factory in Five Dock, Sydney – making it one of the first Australian carpet factories.
Leadlight and stained glass
Alfred Handel (1886–1948) & Philip Handel (1931–2009)
This substantial collection includes original designs for leadlight and stained-glass windows produced by father-and-son leadlight makers Alfred and Philip Handel, who designed and made stained-glass windows for churches and other buildings in NSW and Victoria. Cataloguing of this material is currently in progress.
James Moroney (c1876–1932)
This collection includes coloured original designs for leadlight windows produced by James Moroney, based in Randwick, Sydney. Some of these designs are labelled as produced for the partnership Moroney & Bloomer, established around 1921, and others for the business Moroney operated solo after the dissolution of the partnership in 1925.
Other original designs in the Caroline Simpson Library
Home furnishing collection stories
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Timber Packs Pty Ltd
From 1948, Timber Packs Pty Ltd produced prefabricated furniture that could be assembled by consumers at home. These ‘flat packs’ were manufactured in Australia from 1951 onwards, in the Fler furniture factory in Melbourne, and featured designs by Australian designers including Fred Ward (1900–1990).
Furnishing textiles in Australia, 1850–1920
The Caroline Simpson Library holds numerous examples of textile furnishings provenanced to NSW homes dating back to the 1850s.
Historical wallpaper collection
The Caroline Simpson Library holds Australia’s largest repository of historical wallpapers, dating back to the 1840s. Very little wallpaper was manufactured in Australia until the mid-20th century, and many of the thousands of samples in the collection were produced overseas, in Great Britain and elsewhere.
More from the collection
European designers in Sydney
This exhibition took a timely look at European designers in Sydney in the postwar years: their backgrounds, their Australian careers and their legacy
The interior design profession in Sydney
The professional practice of interior design took shape over the 20th century. It became formalised through professional associations and the expectation that decorators be trained in design principles
George Korody’s furniture and textile designs
Professor George Korody (1890–1957) was a Hungarian émigré architect and designer and advocate for modern functional furnishings and interiors in post-World War II Australia
Explore the Caroline Simpson Library catalogue
Browse or search for relevant monographs, sample books, trade catalogues and archival material in the Caroline Simpson Library catalogue.