Omega Workshops

The workshops opened in 1913 and were established through bequests and donations from famous figures of the London arts scene, such as George Bernard Shaw. Fry invited Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, leading lights in the Bloomsbury Movement1 to join him as co-directors. Fry, Grant and Bell were the most prolific artists of the Omega Workshops but others included Henri Doucet, Wyndham Lewis, Winifred Gill, Nina Hamnett and Dora Carrington.

Omega was very democratic; artists were paid a fixed wage and were not allowed to sign their work. Instead, the Greek letter Omega was used on products as diverse as ceramics, painted furniture, textiles, domestic glass and jewellery. The products were sold direct to private purchasers on an individual basis, but many of the designs were imitated and mass-produced cheaply. Fry's inability to exploit a good business opportunity and the anarchic way he ran the collective led to a high-profile split. Several artists led by Wyndham Lewis left to form their own group. The Omega artists were preparing for a national interior design exhibition at the time, which only heightened the public nature of the defection.

While Omega was a creative powerhouse, its directors had very little business acumen and this, coupled with the outbreak of war in 1914, meant that its short history was one of financial turmoil. It eventually closed in 1919. The items it produced remain highly collectible. A fine collection of furniture and other items produced by the Omega Workshop can be seen at Charleston, the country home of Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.

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