eam behind the British redesign of the engineering and marketing visionaries ure of life in the British home. es are told for the first time… master Group 2013 om a frontispiece drawn for ‘Good Food on the AGA’ Group 2013 by Mabel Gray (www.mabelgray.com) by Charlotte Whitehead AGACOOKER HOW THE AGA COOKER BECAME AN ICON on with a heritage stretching back ng history is well documented.
TEN dEcadEs of hEriTagE and still at the cutting edge today When the AGA cooker was introduced to the UK in 1929, seven years after its invention, it was an instant success. It is now in its tenth decade and it continues to innovate. The very latest technology has been employed to continue the kitchen revolution. There is the ultra-modern AGA Total Control. From the outside, the AGA Total Control looks exactly like a classic AGA cooker.
forEWord T he AGA cooker is a way of life. It commands levels of adulation more oen associated with the latest boy band and generates similar loyalties.
Mention the word AGA to anyone and you’ll get an immediate and emotional response. It is quite simply the most famous cooker and one that is loved by millions the world over. SALUTING the individuals whose vision created one of the world’s most respected brands… While the AGA is well-known for its brilliant cooking performance and iconic good looks, there is also a remarkable story behind the emergence of the AGA cooker as an icon.
12 visionaries The individuals who made it all happen W. T.
W T WREN AGA Heat Ltd managing director Leader and innovator Second World War agent Managing Director of AGA Heat Ltd from early 1930s to 1950s, also becoming Managing Director and Chairman of parent company Allied Ironfounders. Through the 1930s W.T. Wren pushed the AGA cooker, recognising its potential impact. He said: “Owners come to talk about and regard their AGA as though it were almost a member of the household – a fond personality which has won their affection.
W T WREN impression on the trade that [others] have followed AGA almost slavishly in marketing methods. “All this, to my mind, shows that there is something new in the AGA way of marketing a domestic appliance which is regarded as both successful and necessary by our competitors.
DAVID OGILVY AGA Heat Ltd’s first salesman Advertising genius Inspiration for TV’s Mad Men Second World War spy GETTY IMAGES ThE TENaciTY of a BULLdog, ThE MaNNErs of a sPaNiEL… By 1935, marketing of the AGA cooker had become big business and the summer launch of the New Standard AGA – a twin-oven model in cream aimed at smaller households without domestic staff – saw AGA Heat Ltd embark on a nationwide publicity campaign to raise awareness of the brand within a much broader audience. modernity.
DAVID OGILVY Wren by his brother, Francis, and earned his spurs by using his chef ’s uniform from his stint in a Paris restaurant to persuade a London club to keep their AGA cookers. It was with the 1935 launch of the New Standard AGA that Ogilvy produced some quite exceptional work in preparing the company and its dealers for the launch and then providing the required consumer literature.
THE WAR YEARS a VErY sEcrET sErVicE Called away from their work at the outbreak of the Second World War, W. T. Wren, David Ogilvy and his elder brother Francis Ogilvy found themselves volunteering for the murky world of counter-espionage… W. T. Wren e first documentary evidence of W. T.
RAYMOND LOEWY Designer Innovator Head of Raymond Loewy Associates Raymond Loewy (1893– 1986) was an acclaimed industrial designer and reputed to have been the first to be featured on the cover of Time magazine (1949). Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States. Among his most notable designs were the Shell and BP logos, the Greyhound bus, Coca-Cola vending machines and the Air Force One livery.
Douglas Scott (1913–1990) – an industrial designer and educator – was employed at the London office of Raymond Loewy Associates between 1936 and 1939, where his work was overseen by American designer Carl Otto. Together they worked on the AGA Heat and Allied Ironfounders accounts. Scott was particularly proud of his 1938 redesign of the AGA cooker and his development of the Rayburn. It was a design that was to endure for the next 40 years.
DOROTHY BRADDELL LAWRENCE WRIGHT MABEL COLLINS Redefining the kitchen . dEsigN gENiUs ThaT chaNgEd ThE BriTish KiTchEN for EVEr After the First World War, life in the British kitchen began to change. As domestic service declined, the kitchen was no longer the domain of servants, but of the housewife herself.
DOROTHY BRADDELL LAURENCE WRIGHT MABEL COLLINS eir sales exceeded expectations, and Mr Wren [Managing Director of AGA Heat Ltd] is very well satisfied.” Painting a picture of the future of modern kitchens Dorothy Braddell’s kitchen designs were painted – rather than simply photographed – by Lawrence Wright (1906-1983), an author, perspective artist and major commentator on the home.
DOROTHY BRADDELL LAURENCE WRIGHT MABEL COLLINS Painted by Lawrence Wright, this kitchen is based on plans by a successor or colleague of Dorothy Braddell – Millicent Frances Pleydell-Bouverie SERVING UP A NEW APPROACH TO CONTEMPORARY KITCHEN LIVING On 9 May 1873, the reclusive Queen Victoria made a rare public appearance. She attended a cooking lecture held at the exhibition grounds close to London’s Albert Hall.
Ambrose Heath was the Mary Berry of his day – a renowned food writer trusted by millions of British cooks. A big fan of the AGA cooker, in the 1930s he joined AGA Heat Ltd’s pioneering Cookery Advisory Department as Gastronomical Advisor… AMBROSE HEATH Gastronome Food writer Cookbook author © National Portrait Gallery, London Ambrose Heath (1891–1969) was born Francis Geoffrey Miller. Because his parents thought journalism an unrespectable career, he became known professionally as Ambrose Heath.
EDWARD BAWDEN Painter Designer AGA cookbook illustrator AMBROSE HEATH reason being, I suppose, that it is much easier to cook on. e AGA seems to make one want to cook…” roughout the war years, Heath was one of the main voices of the BBC’s e Kitchen Front. A series of talks organised by the Ministry of Food, Heath’s role was to encourage frugality and ease the hardship of rationing with recipes, household hints, exhortations from government officials and comedy.
MARKETING THROUGH THE YEARS 2004 1970s Marketing campaigns through its 10 decades illustrate beautifully how – despite huge changes in the British kitchen – the AGA cooker has remained very much at the heart of the home.
THE MODERN RANGE aNd ThE iNNoVaTioN coNTiNUEs TodaY… The main factor that ensures the AGA cooker remains both iconic and popular in its tenth decade is that it has moved with the times and adapted to modern living. It is easy to implement change for the sake of it or to incorporate technology where it is not needed. This has not been the case with the AGA cooker – each change has been considered and has made a real difference to the lives of AGA owners.
THE MODERN RANGE soUrcEs, rEfErENcEs & acKNoWLEdgEMENTs A 3-oven AGA Total Control in the kitchen at Spring Cottage, Cliveden, which in 1963 was at the heart of the Profumo affair In 2011, AGA Rangemaster entered into a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Birmingham City University to establish a digital gallery of selected archive material charting the AGA ‘look'. It is anticipated that the digital archive will make a valuable contribution to the new Birmingham City Library.
