Bertrand Whittaker

Bertrand Whittaker was born 1880 in Macclesfield, Cheshire. He studied at the Macclesfield School of Art during the years 1897-1901 where he entered and won medals in the National competitions 1897-9. After which he worked for Josiah Smale & Son. In 1908 he moved to Braintree then London to work for Warner & Sons. Frank Warner, son of Benjamin Warner, lectured at art schools all over the country. This led him to recruit in-house designers for Warner and Sons from these art schools. Whittaker worked with Albert Swindells and Alec Hunter. Later, he was joined by Herbert Woodman, fellow student from Macclesfield and former employee of Josiah Smale & Son. In 1920 Whittaker moved to Braintree to work at New Mills, and continued to design despite bad health and failing eyesight until 1947. During his time at Warner & Sons Whittaker worked on projects such as designing the interiors for the government ministerial offices alongside Herbert Woodman. His fabric ‘Teheran’ was used in the interior of Claridge’s hotel in London, an example of the Art Deco period. He moved back to Macclesfield c.1947 where he remained until his death in 1950.