KERACOLOR TELEVISIONS A 1970s ICON THATS AS GOOD IN BUXUS AS WELL AS GRP!
Posted by STEVE M on
In 1966, Eero Aarnio’s futuristic Ball Chair made regular appearances on the ITC television series The Prisoner as Number Two’s seat. This design icon is believed to have been the inspiration for the Keracolor television range introduced in 1970.
The Keracolor brand was the brainchild of Arthur Bracegirdle, a designer and businessman who in conjunction with a talented television engineer in the form of Howard Taylor, managed to come up with a commercially viable design that married the Decca 10 series chassis along with a Mullard colour into a futuristically spherical shaped cabinet.
The choice of the name Keracolor is interesting on two counts, the first being that the wording ‘color’ – neither of the inventors were either American or unable to spell for the “U” in KERACOLOR was left out for aesthetic reasons – in order for the brand name to look symmetrical when displayed adjacent to other controls on the side of the set; and secondly, the aetiology of the name which is derived from the Greek keraunos - meaning “thunderbolt”. The Keracolor brand was at the time described as being “synonymous in the television industry with the very latest and most modern and up-to-date design concept in the world.”
Although I have never bought a Keracolour TV, I did buy a car from the Arthur's son Graham when he was working at a swanky Italian sportscar dealership in rural Cheshire.
Many people remember Keracolor sets fondly and this Cotswolds’ chap has immortalized these striking sets with a rather impressive garden topiary.
