The University is looking for a research student to uncover the history of Betty’s career focusing on her design and making processes, use of materials and style.
A new project is looking to uncover the hidden story of Betty Joel, the Portsmouth-based interwar designer.
Betty Joel was a furniture, textile and interior designer, who without any formal training, started her own business Betty Joel Ltd. with her husband David Joel. Her Token Works furniture workshop was initially located on Hayling Island in 1921, moving to Portsmouth in 1929 as her business grew and then to specially designed premises in Kingston, taking her workers with her. She retailed through her own shop in London.
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, Professor of Design History and Theory at the University of Portsmouth, said: “There has very little research on Betty Joel and she deserves to be much better known in Portsmouth and internationally as a woman designer who was prolific and innovative.”
Betty designed furniture using the expertise of the local craftsmen with a background in yacht and boat fitting to make her distinctive furniture in the 1920s and 1930s, with the man who made each piece signing it along with Betty.
There has very little research on Betty Joel and she deserves to be much better known in Portsmouth and internationally as a woman designer who was prolific and innovative.
Betty’s nephew, fine art consultant and Antiques Roadshow presenter Clive Stewart-Lockhart said, “I am absolutely thrilled, as I am sure Betty would have been, that the University of Portsmouth is supporting a PhD student in their study of her work. It would be wonderful if some of the stories of the craftsmen who worked with Betty can be unearthed to add colour to her extraordinary life.”
Betty also designed her own rugs, which she had made in China. Her work in both furniture and textiles was distinctive for the use of curved lines and curvilinear shapes.
Her career ended when she stopped designing in 1938 following the breakdown of her marriage.
One of Betty's stepped chest of drawers design.
I am absolutely thrilled, as I am sure Betty would have been, that the University of Portsmouth is supporting a PhD student in their study of her work. It would be wonderful if some of the stories of the craftsmen who worked with Betty can be unearthed to add colour to her extraordinary life.
The University of Portsmouth, working with Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, is looking for a research student to uncover the history of Betty’s career focusing on her design and making processes, use of materials and style. The student will also work on an exhibition about Betty at the Museum.
Portsmouth City Museum and Art Gallery’s Curator of Art, Emily Worsdale said: “This PhD will help enrich our knowledge and understanding about Betty Joel and her workers at Token Works. As a prominent but underrepresented figure in interwar furniture design, this important research will further demonstrate the diversity of the city's cultural history and be a fantastic opportunity to learn more about a pioneering female whose innovative work forms part of Portsmouth's fascinating museum collections.”
The PhD will be based in the University’s School of Art, Design and Performance and the deadline for applications is 6 April.
The project can be viewed here.