An exhibition of furniture designed by innovative designer and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh has gone on display at the Museum of Bath at Work. The furniture, loaned from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London has been displayed in a scale reconstruction of the original bedroom Mackintosh had designed for Bath businessman Sidney Horstmann. The commission was one of Mackintosh’s last – completed in 1917- and one of only a handful to be carried out in England. The furniture was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1966 but, other than a short display in that year, in London, the furniture has not been seen since. The is the only chance to see this furniture in the city it was designed for!

The striking room decoration of white walls, black floor and stencilled freizes and stripes was created from Mackintosh’s original drawings at the Hunterian Gallery in Glasgow. They were interpreted by Paul Minott of Bath Spa University’s Design School.

The exhibition is free with admission to the museum and is on display everyday until October 31st .

Horstmann Controls part of Secure Controls (UK) Ltd has been announced as the lead sponsor of the exhibition of C R Mackintosh furniture being displayed at the Museum of Bath at Work from June 14 2017. The furniture which will be displayed was made for Bath businessman Sidney Horstmann and Horstmann Timers are descended from the company Sidney and his family helped found in the early 20th century which makes the link up with the Bristol based firm all the more appropriate!

Horstmann was established in Bath, United Kingdom, in 1854. The company began as a watch, clock maker and jeweller when Gustav Horstmann (father of Sidney Horstmann) settled in the city. He went onto invented the micrometer, able to measure items as small as 1/10,000 of an inch, and patented a device using motive power to wind clocks and ventilate buildings to a uniform temperature.

In 1904, Sidney Horstmann and his brothers founded Horstmann Gear Company to produce a variable speed gearbox he had invented for cars and motorcycles. The company, which later became a general engineering company, specialised in gas street lighting controls, time switches, gauges, and latterly central heating controls. Moving into the 1960’s, central heating expanded rapidly with gas, oil and electricity, and programmers were then restyled to be used in private homes. Focusing on controls, the company was sold and renamed as Horstmann. In 2000 the business relocated from Bath to new purpose built premises in Bristol and continues to be a leading designer and manufacturer of domestic thermostats, central heating programmers and time controls.

Bath born Professor Ann Sumner had joined the Trustees and attended her first meeting this week. Educated at the Royal School and Kingswood School before going on to the Courtauld Institute and University of Cambridge, Ann worked at the Holburne Museum in the 1980s and again in the 1990s as Keeper of Art before going on to be Head of Fine Art at the National Museun of Wales in Cardiff and Director of the Barber Institute
Of Fine Arts in Birmingham. She is President of Bath Evening NADFAS and a Trustee of the Methodist Art Collection. She has a long interest in art and industry and sits on the Curatorial and Research Committee at Ironbridge Museums Trust and is currently Strategic Lead for the Yorkshire Year of the Textile at the University of Leeds, a programme of commissioning and audience development which celebrates the rich textile heritage of the area. She is also Historic Collections Adviser at Harewood House Trust and researching the Welsh artist Penry Williams well known for his industrial scenes of South Wales.

She said, ‘I’m honoured to be joining the board at this exciting time when such a prestigious exhibition will shortly open. It’s a really exciting show with a great story and key loans from the V&A.  I’ve always enjoyed visiting the museum and look forward to the 40 th anniversary celebrations next year’.