Gordon Andrews. (b.1914) Born in Ashfield, NSW, this designer’s career has embraced industrial design (cookware, furniture), graphic design, development of exhibition concepts and design as well as photography. He trained at the Sydney Technical College, Ultimo and the East Sydney Technical College but gained his formative experience in graphic design with the advertising agencies Samson Clark Price Berry, Sydney and Stuart, London in the 1930s. He returned to Sydney in 1939 and briefly ran a personal design practice. During the 1939-45 war, he worked in the De Havilland drawing office and later supervised an experimental hangar.
In 1946, he held a one-man show of paintings and ‘constructions’, including contemporary furniture, with some models later copied by others. In 1949, he took his family to London and set up his own design office, which was retained by the Design Research Unit to design exhibitions for Ilford, Peter Robinsons, The Tea Board, the British Council. He also worked on exhibitions and showrooms for Olivetti, and Smiths Instruments. In 1951, he was made Fellow of the Society of Industrial Designers.
As a independent designer, Gordon Andrews worked with a wide range of clients, notably David Jones Department Stores developing a visual identity; Rex Aluminium, Sydney designing a range of cookware; Cahill’s restaurant, Sydney, the London and Turin offices of Olivetti for exhibition and graphic work as well as a wide range of exhibition projects for Commonwealth and NSW State Government agencies.
For Australians, his best-known work is his direction of the decimal currency project for the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1963-66. Working with Hal Missingham, Douglas Annand and Alistair Morrison as advisers, Gordon Andrews designed the $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50 paper notes. These designs won almost universal applause and acclaim.
Gordon Andrews’ design career has been remarkably diverse, making difficult an overall assessment of his work. He is considered by his peers and critics to have worked successfully in virtually every medium he has chosen. He was given a major retrospective at the Powerhouse Museum, in 1994, curated by Judith O’Callaghan.
Andrews retired to Lovett Bay on the Hawkesbury River until bushfires destroyed his home on his 80th birthday. He died in Sydney on 17 January, 2001, aged 87. He was survived by his former wife, Mary, children Lynn, Richard and Michael, and sister Betty Horsburgh.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1996
- Last updated:
- 2015
