Robert Goodden

Robert Gooden was born in Beaminster in 1909. He studied architecture in London 1926-1931, at the end of which he won a medal for silversmithing at the Architects’ Golf Society. He was awarded a Design Medal by the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers. Between 1948 to 1974 he was a professor of silversmithing and jewellery at the Royal College of Art where he helped to establish a new metals design tradition. Goodden was a key figure in the resurgence of British design post World War Two. For the 1951 Festival of Britain he designed the Lion and Unicorn pavilion. He died in 2002. He designed the tissue fabric ‘Queensway’ in 1953 for Warner & Sons which was used for curtains and hangings in Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.