Smoking Room and other design questions

[Brenda Warriner]

First of all, I must say I'm absolutely blown away by the members of this board and your incredible knowledge of all things Titanic. I've been sifting through several of the threads doing research for a project, and your informative discussions have helped a great deal already!

I've been fascinated by Titanic for a number of years now and chose it as a term project for one of my design classes. Unfortunately, I'm running out of time for research, so I was hoping board members would be able to steer me in the right direction to help speed up the process a bit.

I am looking for background information on the following elements: an interior, a textile, lighting, glassware, metalware, ceramic, and furniture.

I already have a couple of books and have narrowed my possible topics down to the First Class Smoking Room or the Grand Staircase(interior), the crystal chandeliers (lighting), china tableware (ceramic -- if approved by instructor), the Smoking Room club chair or teak deck chair (furniture). I'm at a loss for the metalware and a possible textile (fabric or carpet). I may ask to use the Smoking Room's linoleum as a possible option if I can find enough info on it.

So, I guess what I'm looking for are suggestions for the last two topics (a photo is a requirement as well as colours used), who were the suppliers/manufacturers of the items mentioned, and are there ways to contact the original manufactures for specifications (ie: carpet fibre content, pattern, colours, location on the ship on the others). Also, is there any information on the design firm that worked on Titanic?

I've already read what I thought were the related topics in this forum on these subjects, but haven't been able to go through all the other forums. I apologize if I'm asking questions that have already been addressed elsewhere or are just plain unrealistic, but I really could use help if anyone is willing. If no one responds, I understand, and I thank you for your time.

BW

 

[Christine Geyer]

Dear Brenda,

welcome onboard ET

Titanic's carpets were provided by BMK Stoddard of England. The company was contacted when the James Cameron movie was made and they found out they still had the original patterns in their archives. So they were able to recreate the carpets from the 1st class dining room and lounge (and I think also some of the staterooms) as well for that movie.

Pices of that carpets used in the movie have been sold on auctions afterwards and can also still be found on eBay (search for "Titanic carpet"). I have to admit I couldn't resist either when I got the chance to get a big piece, about one square meter maybe, of the dining room carpet and it certainly looks great.

The website of Stoddard's is

http://www.stoddardcarpets.com/start.asp

Hope that helps a little.

Regards
Christine

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Brenda,

Drop me a private e-mail, I will be able to help you with the Smoking Room to a *much* greater extent than with the Grand Staircase. I have to run now, so there's little time to ponder, but I'll go into much more detail about the smoking room with you via e-mail.

Daniel.

 

[Lee Gilliland]

Wow, thanks for the heads-up - unfortunately, I'm really not as experienced in some of this stuff, and feedback is always useful.

So do you think the loss of the blueprints might be the reason I've been trying - and failing - to wrench a copy out of either Cunard/White Star or UFTM?

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Lee,

As sad as it seems, yes they avoid inquiries on the plans IMO because they no longer have them to give - and, as was addressed in a separate post, the originals - if they still exist in museum rather than private hands, are not only gigantic, but also very fragile and excessive handling to produce copies would yield excessive and unnecessary wear.

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[John Knight]

Why have H&W not chased this up? Surely from just a monetary point of view it must be worth getting these items back.
Is there more to this?

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi John,

It is rather difficult to chase up materials when you have no idea who has them and where they are, as is the case with these archive materials. It's much like the Nazi Gold, once it left public view it never returned and is almost impossible to trace.

Best Regards,

Brian