The 'Snelling Line' was Australia's first popular, mass produced range of furniture sold widely through the major department stores from the late 1940’s to the mid 1950’s. The range included dining tables, cabinets and 'parachute' webbing chairs which became the signature product.
It featured clear finished Australian timbers and brightly coloured webbing, the range quickly became popular in stylish interiors and was often featured in journals such as House and Garden and the Australian Home Beautiful.
The 'Snelling Line' was advertised as 'Contemporary Furniture designed by Douglas B Snelling from his experiences in Southern California'. Snelling worked as a designer in America during the war and had seen the latest in American design. His furniture was strongly influenced by the Scandinavian style.
The post war years saw a change in housing style in Australia to open plan living areas and lower ceilings. Traditional dark wood and heavily upholstered furniture did not suit these spaces and the clean lines, light weight and uncluttered look of the 'Snelling Line' was particularly suited to the new 'modern' home, where it found a ready market.
Douglas Snelling formerly qualified as an architect in 1950 and in a few years he ceased working for Functional Products to concentrate on his busy architectural practice. The 'Snelling Line' gradually declined in sales especially as oiled teak furniture came into vogue in the late 1950s.
There are not a lot of quality examples in the market - probably because the webbing was not that robust. Nevertheless, just another chapter in the evolution of furniture design post World war 2.
