Ballrace – ‘scientific toy’ of the sixties to ‘executive toy’ of the seventies.
Richard Loncraine’s 1967 chromed-steel desk-top toy with swinging balls, called Ballrace – better known now as ‘Newton’s cradle’ – was originally marketed as a ‘scientific toy’ to avoid Purchase Tax on ‘luxury goods’ at a whopping 33.3 percent. There were other versions of the apparatus, having wooden frames, but it was Loncraine’s elegant design, inspired by the Bauhaus-period furniture of Marcel Breuer, that became the iconic ‘executive toy’ fondly believed to be on the desk of every high-flying businessman in the 1970s. Packaged in a clear acetate box, with Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion printed on the lid in four languages, it had modern appeal. By Christmas 1967 it was selling at the trendy ‘Way In’ department at Harrods, Knightsbridge, and was soon be found in up-market gift shops and interior design showrooms in the more fashionable parts of London.
Good design – and it must be FUN!
Increasing post-war prosperity brought with it a demand for stylish products, like Ballrace, as gifts to amuse grownups. By 1969, Loncraine was busy directing films for BBC Television’s Tomorrow’s World, when he invited Peter Broxton to join him and help develop the ‘toy business’. Loncraine Broxton (LB) began trading in the summer of 1969 around the time man first set foot on the Moon. Having no working capital they relied on sales of Ballrace to provide much needed cash-flow. In their search for new ideas the partners’ maxim was: Good design and it must be FUN!
Ballrace was assembled by one skilled person in rooms above a ‘rags and metals’ shop near Chelsea Reach. Purchasing, assembly, sales and distribution were managed by one partner with a van. Sales of Ballrace alone barely covered existing overheads – to boost cash-flow witty gift ideas were created from readily available components – such as candles, ball-bearings, springs and magnets. Candles in Warhol-style soup cans; clear acrylic tubes with balls suspended in clear fluids; clear inflatable plastic cushions with a handful of floating feathers, and a satirical union jack that fluttered down a flagpole – all sold in trendy shops in Carnaby Street and the King’s Road.
Rockerbike
The partners’ first design project was Rockerbike – a child’s rocking motorcycle made entirely from cardboard. A hand-painted prototype was shown to interested parties in the UK and USA, but despite much talk when it came to the crunch no one was willing to meet the up-front costs of volume production. One US company boss expressed concern about perceived connotations with the Hell’s Angels! With that the partners shelved the idea and moved swiftly on to launch their Spring Collection: a stool made from a giant steel spring – a spring table lamp – and spring egg-cups.
Spring Stool
Spring egg-cups
Images and text unless indicated otherwise Copyright © Loncraine Broxton 1969-97 Archive 2018
Loncraine Broxton 1969-97 