About
About this site
These photographs were being disposed of back in the 1980’s and were salvaged before being destroyed. Because of the interest in these products we felt that they should be preserved for all to see.
History of the site
Harry Peach (1874 – 1936) together with Benjamin Fletcher his designer, commenced manufacturing cane furniture in 1907 – this photographic record was kept up to date until his death in 1936. Records of furniture after this date can be obtained from old catalogues. Unfortunately a few pages have gone missing together with albums M and T, if anyone knows of their whereabouts, please let us know so we could possibly add them to this record.
History of Harry Peach
An abbreviated history is available in
The History of Leicester in 100 People – Stephen Butt
Publishers Amberley Books
ISBN 978-1-4456-1685-8
A full history of his life and works in
Harry Peach – Dryad and the DIA – Pat Kirkham
Publishers The Design Council
ISBN 0-85072-177-6
Dryad Cane Furniture Business
Commenced business in 1907 and ceased trading in cane furniture in the mid 50’s with the advent of fierce competition in that area. After the 1st world war the company branched out into the supply of handicraft materials for occupational therapy and for school use, becoming the largest supplier of Art & Craft materials in the world in the years between the world wars. After the second world war Dryad was a far larger business than the just the cane works.
Furniture
A whole range of furniture was produced from chairs. tables, baskets, trays to a miscellany of other products shown on this site. The bywords in all the advertisements was ‘Style, Strength, Durability and Comfort’
Distribution
Many UK and overseas retailers were used as well as selling to the general public, one of the largest customers were the Shipping lines of the day. The company exhibited all over Europe and the UK as you will see from some of the company photographs and during the 1st world war were suppliers to the War Office!
The Basis of this Website
The site is organised by product type which will call up photographs of that type from the albums. You can also browse each catalogue page by page if you wish.
We hope to add other historical photo’s in the future and welcome your input if you know any history about Dryad or have photos or catalogue you would like to be on this website.
Contact Us
For any enquiries and comments or to share further information with us please contact us by clicking HERE
Dryad Cane Furniture 
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