Book review by Loncraine Broxton: Innovations & Executive Toys

Nostalgics of a certain age will have noticed the presence of a giant Newton’s Cradle in the title sequence of Disney’s current, all-conquering Jilly Cooper adaptation. Rivals. What could better commemorate this era of executive excess both in and out of the boardroom than that desk toy par excellence, a loudly swinging set of metal balls?

Now the men behind the “toy” that served as the decade’s most enduring desktop distraction have written a book that tells their story. Richard Loncraine and Peter Broxton founded Loncraine Broxton in 1969, both art students at a particularly fertile point of countercultural innovation. Loncraine was the sculptor turned TV man who turned his fascination with kinetic art into a stalled art career, a world he traded in for television.

But a kinetic piece he created during his time at RCA, “Ballrace,” quickly became a cult hit. Five chrome-plated spheres suspended in a frame inspired by Marcel Breuer’s groundbreaking Kandinsky chair provided an addictively simple demonstration of Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion – for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As one ball clicked against another, the transferred energy created a harmonious – and pleasantly audible – back-and-forth pattern.

Ballrace began selling in Harrods in 1967, but longed to be properly commercialized. This book is the story of the company that was founded for exactly this purpose. Loncraine persuaded Peter Broxton to join him in what was initially a very handmade affair, held in a run-down shop on Lots Road in Chelsea. Broxton, a painter, aspiring archaeologist and designer, joined in 1969, and financial whiz Edward Ehlers came on board to look after the books.

Loncraine Broxton moved to Soho Square, beginning a highly creative era in which she designed and built, largely by hand, what we would today rather pejoratively refer to as “executive toys.” Combining fine art, design and craftsmanship with a strong hint of pop art, L&B’s output ranged from furniture and one-off sculptural pieces to deliberately frivolous novelties that could fill a stocking and elicit a wry smile.

Four Corners Books has reproduced many of the delights of the L&B archive, from endless experiments with chrome, motion and magnets to oversized lounge chairs, liquid-filled puzzles, novelty pens and much more. Long before Catherine Hettinger invented the fidget spinner in 1993, L&B dreamed of ways to keep idle hands busy.

With a keen sense of the absurd and an eye for juxtaposition and surrealism, as well as an intoxicating dose of witty humor (“Loncraine Broxton, the company that puts its eggs on the desk of every successful businessman in Britain,” begins a press release), there was no icon of 80s design that L&B didn’t create or at least didn’t parody.

At some point everything had to come to an end. “The world had changed…The gift shop concept was growing tired,” Loncraine says in the book, adding that the ill-advised expansion faced competitors with far lower overhead costs. “Chinese manufacturers rejected our ideas faster than we could develop new ones,” he adds.

Whatever you think of the products themselves, this book is a wonderful trip back to a simpler time, when a good idea wasn’t immediately lost and a small manufacturer could make a good living while being a valued employer. Above all, it is a celebration of forgotten designs, lovingly presented with layouts and typography by John Morgan Studio and a range of welcome, endearing and insightful recollections from the men themselves.

Loncraine Broxton: Innovations and Executive Toys 1969-1997Four Corners Books, £15, FourCornersBooks.co.uk, @FourCornersBooks