Laura Ashley
Laura Ashley , CBE (born September 7, 1925 in Merthyr Tydfil , Wales , † September 17, 1985 in Coventry , Warwickshire ) was a Welsh designer .
Life
Laura Ashley was born Laura Mountney in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, and was raised a Baptist . In 1941 she left school to serve in the Royal Women's Navy Service during World War II . In 1949 she married the engineer Bernard Albert Ashley (later Sir Bernard), whom she had previously met at a youth club in Wallington .
In addition to her work and the upbringing of her first two children, she used her free time to design napkins and tablecloths, which Sir Bernard printed out on a machine he had built himself. Ashley's inspiration for making printed matter came from a women's institute at the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 1953 she began making headscarves in the Victorian style .
development
Ashley's headscarves became more and more successful over time and she was able to start a company . In 1955 the new company relocated to Kent , but in 1958 the business was almost shut down when the River Derwent flooded everything . But Ashley rebuilt everything together with her husband and sales continued to grow. In 1970 the company had sales of £ 300,000. The first Laura Ashley branch opened in South Kensington in 1968 . Additional branches opened in Shrewsbury and Bath in 1970 . In one week alone, the London store on Fulham Road sold over 4,000 dresses - thanks to this success, Ashley was able to open a new factory in Newtown, Montgomeryshire. In 1975 the company had sales of £ 5 million and it had over 1,000 employees worldwide.
After Ashley died
Ashley died of a brain hemorrhage after falling down a flight of stairs at her daughter's place on her 60th birthday. After her death, her husband Sir Bernard († February 14, 2009 in Elan Valley in Wales) continued to run the company until the family separated from the company in 2001.
Web links
- Laura Ashley - Official Website (requires Macromedia Flash)
- Der Tagesspiegel : “Farewell to the father of the floral dress” , February 18, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Copestake and Mounteney Newsletter 2. Retrieved July 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Malaysian magnate leads English rose to the block. June 29, 2005, accessed July 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Bernard Ashley is dead - company - derStandard.at ›Economy. December 6, 2018, accessed July 5, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ashley, Laura |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Welsh designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 7, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Merthyr Tydfil , Wales |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th September 1985 |
| Place of death | Coventry , Warwickshire |