Hille, Salamon & Ray; Hille & Co. Ltd (1906-1984)
Hille, Salamon & Ray; Hille & Co. Ltd
Derbyshire Street & Old Street, London; furniture makers (fl. 1906-c.1984)
Salamon Hille (1870-1940) arrived in London from the Ukraine in 1906 and initially worked in a wine company in the City before setting up his furniture making firm in Rutland Street, Stepney/Whitechapel. Hille was not a craftsman nor a designer and his daughter, Ray, described his passion for furniture as ‘all in the brain’ because ‘he couldn’t handle a hammer’. He was interested in historic furniture and he & Ray often visited the V&A. He started the business with a wood carver and a cabinet maker with the intention of producing high quality furniture.

A glazed earthenware plate, decorated with the 'Homemaker' pattern designed by Enid Seeney in 1957, manufactured by Ridgway Potteries in Staffordshire between 1958 and 1967 [9/2013].© Museum of the Home, London
Moving to Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green and then Old Street, by 1914 he employed 80 people, mainly cabinet makers and carvers. He ran a craft apprenticeship training scheme in his workshop and he insisted that all staff belonged to a trade union.
He was heavily involved with the Jewish Community both in the East End and by serving as a member of Jewish National Fund, the Board of Deputies and the United Synagogue Council. His private customers were mainly Jewish but the high prices meant that it was bought by those living in the North London suburbs rather than the East End. He also supplied high quality goods to the department stores like Hampton’s, Maples and Waring & Gillow. The firm was successful in the export trade too, having customers in the USA, Australia, Egypt, India and South Africa.
The styles of Hille's furniture were 'period modern' [Pat Kirkham], sometimes japanned or lacquered, and art deco before progressing to a more international style after the 2nd World War. Examples include Chinese Chippendale chairs made by Hille 1918-39 and Hille Swan chairs are illustrated in Massil (1997) pl. 6 and Kirkham, Mace, Porter (1987) p. 52. The former publication also includes photographs of Mrs Ray Hille in a workshop with one of the carvers (1935), a mahogany break-front bookcase (1946-7) and a formed plywood chair of 1951, pls. 11, 12 & 15.

'Hillestak' stacking chair, with a walnut-veneered plywood seat and back, and solid beech legs, designed by Robin Day and manufactured by Hille c.1951 [17/1994-1]. © Museum of the Home, London
In the inter-war years about 15% of output was exported and the firm also began to offer bespoke furniture to Jewish newly-weds including Mrs Sophia Baron who ordered all her furniture from them in 1931. A description of her visit to the factory and a photo of her walnut sideboard is illustrated in Kirkham, Mace, Porter (1987), p. 46.

Beech sideboard with black glass sliding doors, manufactured between 1950 and 1960 [3/1993]. © Museum of the Home, London
Salamon retired in 1932 and died in 1940. His designer daughter, Ray, took over the business with outside finance and during the 2nd World War the firm survived by repairing its furniture for clients and was not involved with the production of Utility furniture. From about 1949 Robin Day was one of the Hille’s designers, by which time the firm had moved out of the East End to more up to date premises in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, and Ray was joined in the firm by her husband, Maurice (who adopted the Hille surname), and subsequently by her daughters, Cheryl and Rosamund, and Rosamund’s husband, Leslie Julius. By this time the firm was using bent plywood and polypropylene materials.
An exhibition to celebrate the work of Hille was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1981 and two or three years later the family sold the business to Ergonom, a metal furniture manufacturing company, which continued designing and manufacturing furniture as Hille-Ergonom. The family ended their connection with the firm a few years after it was sold.
Sources: Kirkham, Mace, Porter, Furnishing the World. The East London Furniture Trade 1830-1980 (1987); Massil, Immigrant Furniture Workers in London 1881-1939 (1997).
Occupation
Ornamentation/Design
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