Christian Augustus Barman (13 September 1898 – 1980) was a British industrial designer and administrator.

Personal life

Barman was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium on 13 September 1898, the son of Thomas Gustav, who was a Norwegian sailor. Christian Gustav later changed his surname to Barman, from

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

, the small island off the coast of Norway where his father was raised.

Career

From 1916, Barman studied architecture at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. He then ran his own architectural and design practice until 1935, when

Frank Pick Frank Pick Royal Institute of British Architects, Hon. RIBA (23 November 1878 – 7 November 1941) was a British transport administrator. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1902, he worked at the North Eastern Railway (UK), North Eastern Ra ...

offered him the role of publicity officer at London Transport. In 1931, he became a naturalised British citizen. In 1934, he designed a chrome-plated metal electric fan heater that was manufactured by the

Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...

, and copies are now in the permanent collections of

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City and the V&A in London. In 1948, he was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry. From 1949 to 1950, he was president of the Society of Industrial Artists, now the Chartered Society of Designers. In the 1963 New Year Honours, Barman was awarded an OBE, "For services as Executive Member, Design Panel, British Transport Commission." He was the author of several non-fiction works including a biography of Frank Pick, ''The Man Who Built London Transport'', and a novel ''Ramping Cat'' (1941).

Legacy

In 2010, TfL commissioned the ''Barman''

moquette Moquette is a type of woven pile (fabric), pile fabric in which cut or uncut threads form a short dense cut or loop pile. The pile's upright fibres form a flexible, durable, non-rigid surface with a distinctive velvet-like feel. Traditional moqu ...

, designed by WallaceSewell (Emma Sewell and Harriet Wallace-Jones) and manufactured by Camira Fabrics. It was first used in 2011, on refurbished Central Line trains, and is now used on several deep level tube lines. The design incorporates the

London Eye The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and the most popular paid Tourist attractions in the ...

, the St Paul's dome, the

Elizabeth Tower Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, Pars pro toto, by extension, for the clock tower itself, which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Cl ...

(Big Ben) and the two towers of

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barman, Christian 1898 births 1980 deaths People from Antwerp 20th-century British designers Alumni of the University of Liverpool People associated with transport in London Transport design in London British industrial designers Norwegian emigrants to England British people of Norwegian descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire