Phyllis Barron & Dorothy Larcher

Girton College, Cambridge

Barron’s reply Mr Gardiner made the dining table in the Fellows Room. Best seasoned wood used but wood not what it was before the war. The oval table also possible to change the top.…………….we now feel that it would be a mistake to hang the curtains of the Small Feather design round the bow in the Combination room, as they would be subjected to continuous sunlight. We have the best dyes obtainable for printing but we know that the ground is liable to brown a little when in full sun and that some of the colours may fade slightly. We should therefore suggest that the printed Small Feather design should be hung straight across the window from ceiling to floor. This would mean that the curtains would be drawn off the windows in the daytime and would get very little sun on them. If this is not liked we suggest that another design should be chosen of machine woven line, which the manufacturers would guarantee.10 They would have seen a design which we think would be suitable if enlarged and made in special colours. It is a shaded stripe. The maker would not set up a loom unless the design were ordered but it would be possible for you to see a coloured drawing and similar design in a different size and colour. It is possible for a woven design to have faster colours than a printed one. We have started the feather design, but if you decide against it we shall be able to use it for another purpose. We should not like you to have anything which you might afterward regret. 10 The feather design was accepted on 24 April.

The dissatisfaction continued with the height of the backs of the dining chairs and the lighting. Some members of the committee did not like either the colour or design of an African walnut table which had been supplied. Barron and Larcher quite exasperated by now again threatened to resign. The difference of opinion at Girton about everything we have provided or suggested for the Fellows rooms are too great for us to continue the work there….Our position is an impossible one and we should prefer not to add to the number of things which are not appreciated or understood. We welcome intelligent criticism, but we feel that a great many of the people concerned do not understand the things they have ordered, and they are evidently not willing to put their trust in those who do, or in us. 11

Miss Butler managed to pacify them and Barron wrote to Miss Butler in a confidential letter If we do go on, it will be for your sake – we (shall) never forget the very difficult time you must have had over this business.12There continued weekly correspondence between the two with Barron detailing every aspect of the design.