Design and Art Australia Online

Joy de Gruchy made a major contribution in the field of interior design, and the promotion of good design, art and craft – as an interior designer, business and gallery owner, and arts bureaucrat.
Craftsman’s Market, Joy’s shop, became an iconic Brisbane business important to Brisbane’s cultural development as it grew from country town to cosmopolitan city.
Joy believed strongly that modern interiors benefited from the interest and warmth that came from the injection of art works and craft.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1922, Joy studied economics and fine arts for her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. She married architect, Graham de Gruchy. While working as an economist, Joy collaborated with Graham on domestic interiors for his clients. They were madly keen on the design ideas for furniture and interiors coming out of Europe, Scandinavia and the U.S. in the 1950s, heralding a new era of modern design.
In 1960, with 3 young children, Joy and Graham moved to London. While there, they saw a slide show about Brisbane at Queensland House. They decided to emigrate, settling in Brisbane in 1962.
Joy conceived the idea of a craft and design ‘studio’. She came across a ramshackle building at 57 Jephson Street, Toowong thinking this would ‘do’ until she found longer-term premises. Craftsman’s Market opened on 11 February 1963. Joy remained in business at this same location for the next 25 years.
For two decades from the mid-1960s, Craftman’s Market and Joy’s interiors attracted interest from the interiors media, being regularly featured in magazines like Australian Home Journal, Belle, Home Beautiful, and Vogue Australia, Living and Interiors.
Joy loved colour. Along with a few other Australian interior designers like Marion Hall Best in Sydney and Merlin Cunliffe in Melbourne, Joy was delighted by the bold colour and simplicity of Marimekko fabrics.
Craftsman’s Market beat other states by a week when the 1966 Marimekko clothing range went on sale with a preview party on 10 August 1966. Vogue Australia captured this fashion event. Joy was rarely seen out of a Marimekko outfit for the next 30 years.
Craftsman’s Market sold imported furniture from Scandinavia and local suppliers included Michael Hirst Furniture (Melbourne) and Saga Furniture (Sydney). Giftware included: Scandinavian glassware (Iittala, Kosta Boda, Holmegaard, Orrefors), ceramics (Arabia, Liekke, Hackman), kitchenware (Stelton, WMF, Spring), fabrics and textiles (Marimekko, Metsovaara, Tidstrand), jewellery (Hans Hansen) and clothing (Marimekko, Vuokko). Craft exhibitions included potters Carl McConnell and Hatton and Lucy Beck.
Joy was actively involved with the community of architects, artists and designers. Her passion for interior design and her interest in the study of interior design led to accepting invitations to speak about interiors to the Queensland Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and to the public.
In 1969, Joy and Graham de Gruchy co-sponsored the Darnell-de Gruchy Art Prize with the University of Queensland (and contributed funding until 1977). This was a significant contribution to stimulate modern art.
In 1971, Joy was invited to become the first Queensland member of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia (now DIA), remaining an active member for 22 years. In 1976, Belle magazine published a special national feature celebrating SIDA’s 25 years of design. Joy was one of the 39 featured Australian designers.
In early 1973, Joy was appointed by the Whitlam Government as a member of the inaugural Crafts Board of the Australian Council for the Arts (later called the Australia Council). This was a stimulating time for the arts and Joy was delighted to contribute.
Joy travelled often to Europe for ideas and product lines. Favourite stops were Conran’s Habitat, Milan and Copenhagen furniture fairs and the Danish Design Centre. The 70s was a world in which fibreglass and sophisticated furniture manufacturing techniques were leaping ahead.
Joy imported Cado, Westofa, B&B Italia, Fritz Hansen, Artemide, Cassina. She secured top quality curtaining and upholstery fabrics from Sweden and Denmark. She imported Lyktan lighting and stocked the Louis Poulsen range. She imported stylish office equipment such as Danese and Styro.
Joy’s business acquired the property adjacent to Craftsman’s Market in 1973. Joy added large showrooms connected by a walkway. The business now had 500 sq metres of display space for showing furniture and interiors, and as gallery space.
By the mid-80s import rights changed to large Australian distributors like Artes. Joy continued to retail through them. She supplemented her business with local suppliers like Roy Catt furniture and retailing innovative Verisol window treatments.
The De Gruchy Gallery in the 1970s and 80s showcased the work of many artists and craftsmen, including: batiks by Edit Richards, Peg Mecham pots, Aase Pryor jewellery and pots, Peter Collingwood and Tadek Beutlich (UK), Pru Medlin weavings, Milton Moon pottery, Sam Herman glass, the weaving art of Hawaii, Liz Nettleton weavings, Jack Laird ceramics and pots, watercolours by celebrated NZ artist Jane Evans, Pietro Agnoletto’s Art of the Sepik River, and Croneen oriental rugs.
Belle magazine’s June 1980 issue featured a story on ‘top’ galleries in Australia, with the De Gruchy Gallery profiled.
After 25 years in business, Joy closed the business in April 1988.
Over the years, Joy completed many projects including homes for clients, particularly those designed by architects, many offices and small businesses such as professional consulting rooms, a few restaurants including the Nautilus Restaurant in Port Douglas, and the Castaways resort on the Sunshine Coast.
Her friends (and clients) included some wonderful Queenslanders including: Karl and Gertrude Langer; Brian and Marjorie Johnstone; Pam and Patrick Wilson; John and Sue Railton; Graham and Margaret McNamara; Bob and Pfeff Colin; Nancy and Peter Underhill; Zelman and Anna Cowen; Betty and Roy Churcher; Syd and Maureen Schubert; Quentin and Michael Bryce; Joan Whalley; Denis and Elysia Croneen, and many more whose names are less well known.
Joy left a lasting legacy among a generation of Brisbane homeowners, architects and business people who benefited from having access to a shop and showroom like Craftsman’s Market and the De Gruchy Gallery.

Writers:

rayned

Date written:

2021

Last updated:

2021