Ray Leigh
{{Short description|British architect (1928–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox architect
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Ray Leigh
| honorific_suffix = MBE RIBA AA Dipl Hon FRCA
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|06|06}}
| birth_place = Streatham, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2025|03|13|1928|06|06}}
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| citizenship = United Kingdom
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| occupation = Architect & Designer
| years_active = 1949-2008
| alma_mater = Whitgift School, Croydon, The Architectural Association
| spouse =
| partner =Jean Leigh
| children =3
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| practice = UK
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Ray Leigh MBE RIBA (6 June 1928 – 13 March 2025) was a British architect and designer. He was especially influential in the field of furniture design and was a key figure in the post-war furniture making industry in the UK.{{cite web |author= |date= |title= The Furniture Makers Company |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ray_Leigh&action=edit |website= |location= |publisher= |access-date=12 May 2025}}
Early life and education
Leigh was born in Streatham, London where his father worked as a civil servant but spent the war years in Morecambe where the family was evacuated. Inspired by the Art Deco Midland Hotel in the town designed by architect Oliver Hill, he continued his education at the Architectural Association. There, he was in a class of students under Sir Frederick Gibberd who went on to make a significant contribution to post-war design and architecture in the UK; Sir Philip Dowson, Richard Burton, Ted Cullinan, Sir Colin St John Wilson and Julian Keable. Roderick Gradidge and Michael Blower were also his contemporaries.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
Career
After National Service in the Royal Engineers, he started in the office of Dick Russell, brother of Gordon Russell to work on the interior fit out of buildings for the 1951 Festival of Britain. He worked closely there and made lifelong friendships with figures such as Sir James Stirling, 'Jacko' Moya and Sir Philp Powell, John Piper, Mary Shand, Terence Conran and Robin Wade. After the Festival, he joined Sir Gordon Russell, the influential furniture designer in his eponymous business Russell, Hodgson & Leigh (1957–1967), eventually making Partner. In 1967 he became Senior Designer of the firm, and later became managing director and eventually chair, where it grew into a business of 200 people at its peak. The firm was sold in 1986 after which he became involved in advocacy for the furniture making industry.{{cite web |author= |date= |title= The Gordon Russell Design Museum |url=
https://gordonrusselldesignmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Obituary_-Ray-Leigh-MBE-1.pdf |website= |location= |publisher= |access-date=25 April 2025}}
Significant projects
Leigh was responsible for the chairs for Coventry Cathedral designed by Sir Basil Spence, a classic of post-war design, designed by Dick Russell, Gordon's brother.{{cite web |author= |date= |title= Dezeen|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/28/coventry-cathedral-chair-1960s-dick-russell-goes-back-into-production-luke-hughes/ |website= |location= |publisher= |access-date=12 May 2025}}
Public life
Leigh was President of the Guild of Gloucester Craftsmen, Mayor of Chipping Camden, Master of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers{{cite web |author= |date= |title= The Furniture Makers Company |url=https://www.furnituremakers.org.uk/news/past-master-ray-leigh-mbe-6-june-1928-13-march-2025/ |website= |location= |publisher= |access-date=25 April 2025}} in 1984, a founding trustee of Crafts Council, Chair of Furniture Industry Research Association, and Chair of the Edward Barnsley Educational Trust.
Personal life and death
Leigh had three children two of whom pre-deceased him. He was married for 72 years to Jean. Leigh died on 13 March 2025, at the age of 96.{{cite web |author= |date= |title= The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/04/25/ray-leigh-furniture-festival-britain-obituary/ |website= |location= |publisher= |access-date=25 April 2025}}
Legacy
Leigh's archive is held by the Gordon Russell Design Museum, a project which he advocated in the former premises of the business, in Broadway in the Cotswolds.{{cite web |author= |date= |title= The Gordon Russell Design Museum |url=https://gordonrusselldesignmuseum.org/museum-archive/ray-leigh/ |website= |location= |publisher= |access-date=25 April 2025}}
Gallery
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- Advance the Product. Gordon Russell Furniture - Continuing Adventure (1946-1986), by Ray Leigh. Broadway: Gordon Russell Trust, 2015 (paperback, {{ISBN|978-0-9575313-2-1}})
- A Change of Direction. Gordon Russell Furniture (1930–1940), by Ray Leigh. Broadway: Gordon Russell Trust, 2017 (paperback, {{ISBN|978-0-9575313-4-5}})
- Drawn to Design. The Work of Sir Gordon Russell, by Ray Leigh & Trevor Chinn. Broadway: Gordon Russell Trust, 2013 (paperback, {{ISBN|978-0-9575313-0-7}})
External links
- [http://www.gordonrussellmuseum.org/ The Gordon Russell Museum, Broadway, Worcestershire]
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Category:21st-century English architects
Category:Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
Category:Architects from Lancashire
Category:Architects from London
Category:Designers from London
Category:People educated at Whitgift School
Category:People from Morecambe