ROCKMAN & ROCKMAN is based close to the spiritual heart of the old East London furniture trade around Shoreditch, epicentre of the British furniture industry from mid-19th to mid-20th Century. Most of our local urban landscape is largely shaped by Victorian and Edwardian buildings that were built specifically to house their workshops, factories, showrooms, warehouses and timber yards.
When we arrived here over 25 years ago most of the local manufacturing and wholesale furniture trade had gone but there were still many interesting old shops that stocked thousands of unusual fittings and furnishing hardware. Since then sadly, they have all gone and the rich spectrum of goods on offer has disappeared with them - the last being Daniel Lewis & Sons carraige fittings on Hackney road, killed off by the red route parking after over 200 years trading in the same building.
At ROCKMAN & ROCKMAN we have a huge archive of old catalogues and reference from the 20th Century furniture industry, most specific to the Shoreditch area. These catalogues contain a fascinating goldmine of designs from a lost era. Here are few examples from our collection of brands that were once big names based in the area.
