Cast Iron Ranges How AGA Became an Icon

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.”
In Wren’s obituary in Design, the journal of
the Council of Industrial Design, Richard
Carr wrote: “He [Wren] already believed in
the value of selling an appliance which used
only 3
1
/2 tons of coke a year instead of the 24
tons of coal consumed by the average kitchen
boiler.
“A meeting with Francis Ogilvy of Mather
and Crowther encouraged him to improve
the AGA still further by calling in Raymond
Loewy as the company’s design consultant
[see page 18]. is led to the development of
a complete range of well designed appliances,
including the Otto stove, named aer Carl
Otto who worked in Loewy’s oce, the
Rayburn and the AGAmatic domestic water
heater.
“e association with Mather and Crowther
also led to the adoption of outstandingly high
standards of writing, illustration and printing
for the company's literature, while Wren
followed his own clear policy on salesman-
ship, cutting down retail outlets and
appointing as agents only those builders'
merchants, ironmongers and even individuals
whom he could rely on to give expert service.
“He also introduced such ideas as a circular
on AGAs in Latin, and then in Greek, for
distribution to schools, and an exhibition in
two air conditioned railway coaches which
toured Britain in the 1950s to display the
company products.”
Wren also became an animated commentator
on social issues and, in combination with
organising travelling exhibitions, he
commissioned lms during the 1950s to
make local authorities aware of the need to
modernise Victorian slums and war-damaged
properties.
But perhaps Wren’s lasting legacy stemmed
from a remarkable ability to see design,
marketing and engineering ability and to then
assemble the right team for the times. He
knew by the late 1930s that the original AGA
cooker – introduced to Britain in the late
1920s – needed to be re-designed and
updated.
For this, he called in renowned American
industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who was
to go on to design the interiors of Concorde
for Air France and Air Force One for the US
government.
Wren was aware that the AGA cooker’s
unique selling points needed a unique sales
force. For this job, he turned to David Ogilvy,
who was to go on to revolutionise advertising
as the so-called King of Madison Avenue and
later to be the inspiration for TV’s Mad Men.
He was aware the times were changing and,
as domestic service in Britain declined, he
asked designer and domestic planning
advocate Dorothy Braddell to come up with
a functional new look for British kitchens.
He commissioned a series of cookbooks from
the celebrity chef of the day, Ambrose Heath,
which were illustrated by Edward Bawden,
who was to go on to become an artist of
major repute.
Over the coming pages we look at the visionaries
who made up Wren’s team, talented individuals
who succeeded in embedding the AGA cooker in
the British psyche.
q
12 How e AGA Became An Icon
W. T. Wren frequently hosted lavish
dinners at the Dorchester for AGA
distributors (above). The famous
London hotel was also used for
company meetings, as illustrated
by the extract (left) of the minutes
from a board meeting in 1945,
when it was agreed the discussion
should be “adjourned for lunch and
the meeting continued at the
Dorchester Hotel”
A silver inkwell fashioned in
the form of an AGA cooker and
presented to W. T. Wren
by his colleagues in 1937
At the same meeting, the board
reviewed how the AGA cooker
had been launched in the UK
and concluded (left) that it would
not have been the immediate
success it had been if those
behind the project had been
prejudiced by accepted selling
practices of the time
How e AGA Became An Icon 13
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