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Profile image of a Robert Welch fruit stand. The item is cast iron. The finish is raw meaning the footed plate is black in colour and texture like smooth concrete.
Close up of the surface of a cast iron Robert Welch 'Hobart' fruit stand. This design is a post war British icon but it is mistakenly referred to as a cake plate.
Colourful mood image showing a black cast iron Robert Welch fruit stand piled high with ripe fruit including grapes, limes, and nectarines. Classic post-war British Modernism.
A Robert Welch fruit stand laying on its side. The long stem of the serving plate features three rings. The entire piece is cast iron making it heavy and substantial.
View of a Robert Welch cake or fruit pate from his highly acclaimed Hobart series. Known as Campden Designs the cast iron series expanded quickly to form a small family of shapes; including the nutcracker, fruit stand and a peppermill. The cast iron range helped Robert break into new markets and sold internationally in large quantities, teaching the still young Robert some lessons along the way.
Close up of the rings that feature on a Robert Welch hobart fruit stand.
Detail of the stem of a Hobart fruit stand meeting the plate of the serving piece. The design featured stacked discs around a central core. Designed and made by Robert Welch circa 1962.
Close up of a Robert Welch fruit stand. The tazza-shaped fruit stand was especially well received in Denmark; images of these had featured in the Decorative Art Yearbook 1964.
Detail of Robert Welch Hobart fruit stand. The Modernist British design in cast iron was very popular in Scandinavia, especially Denmark. The retailer Hagbarth Skjalm Petersen bought the fruit stands for his eponymous shop in Copenhagen.
Robert Welch fruit stand upside down on a linen tablecloth. The cast iron design is a classic example of Brutalism in postwar British product design. This collectible piece and many other important objects from design history can be bought from London based Art & Utility.
Close up of the original sticker on the bottom of a Robert Welch fruit stand. The silver coloured circular sticker reads 'Designed and made by Robert Welch Chipping Campden England'.
Large cast iron plate of a fruit stand or fruit bowl or fruit tazza designed by Robert Welch.
British Modernist fruit stand design in cast iron. Designed and made by Robert Welch an important silversmith and industrial designer that studied at the Royal College of Art with the likes of David Mellor and Gerald Benney.
Robert Welch cast iron cake stand or fruit stand. The large circular plate is cast iron. The item stands on a ringed foot.
Campden Designs

Robert Welch 'Hobart' Fruit / Cake Stand

£680.00 £0.00
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A Modernist tazza-shaped fruit stand designed and made by Robert Welch circa 1962.

One of the most respected British designers of the 20th century, Welch believed that everyone should be able to use well considered objects in everyday life. This philosophical outlook aligns his work with that of mid-century Nordic designers whom he described as a major lifelong influence in 1986 in Hand & Machine.

Aesthetically, however, Welch’s work is unmistakably British. Especially his ‘Hobart’ series with its stark silhouette of industrial shapes and raw texture. In retrospect, many view Welch’s work in cast iron as the best representation of Brutalism in the decorative arts.

Welch completed his protracted education by training as a silversmith at the Royal College of Art in London, which he attended from September 1952.
The Professor of Silversmithing was Robert Goodden, the architect and noted designer associated with the Festival of Britain, and his peers included David Mellor and Gerald Benney, who were both in the year above.

At the RCA Welch found he was able to design and work not only in silver but in other metals too. The RCA was, however, only part of his education as Welch made four extended visits to Scandinavia whilst studying, which contextualises his affinity with Nordic design.

In 1953 (on a scholarship awarded to him during his studies at Birmingham College of Art, School of Silversmithing & Jewellery) he attended a design course in Sweden, and in 1954 he went to Norway to work with Silversmith Theodor Olsen.

Upon graduating in 1955, Welch, at the suggestion of Gordon Russell, left London to establish a workshop and studio in Chipping Campden. This was on the top floor of a disused 18th century silk mill that formerly housed C.R. Ashbee’s Guild of Handicraft. Welch had noticed the old mill on a visit, arranged by Russel, to meet silversmith George Hart. Hart, was, of course, one of the craftspeople that stayed on after Ashbee’s Guild was dissolved in 1907.

Today, the businesses of Robert Welch, Gordon Russell & George Hart all continue in the Cotswolds and help keep the ethos of The Arts and Crafts Movement alive.

Model Name: Fruit Stand

Designer: Robert Welch

Manufacturer: Campden Designs Ltd

Year of Design: Circa 1962

Dates Produced: 1962-1967

Colour: Black

Height: 15.3 cm, Diameter 25.5 cm

Condition: Excellent

Branding: Retains its original silver coloured circular manufacturer’s sticker that reads ‘Designed and Made by Robert Welch Chipping Campden England’.