Mea Angerer was born Maria Elisabeth Adele Angerer into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1905 and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna under Josef Hoffmann. Angerer arrived in England in 1928 to pursue her career in textile design and, save for a short period in advertising, she continued to work on a freelance basis creating designs for some of the most prestigious UK fabric houses for the remainder of her professional life. Angerer also contributed designs for the newly opened Austrian Centre in Paddington in 1939 and for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Textile designer Mea Angerer was born Maria Elisabeth Adele Angerer into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1905. She studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna under Josef Hoffmann, during which time some of her designs were reproduced by the Wiener Werkstatte.
Angerer came to England in 1928 to work as a head designer for Eton Rural Fabrics for 18 months (the precursor to Sanderson), producing designs characterised by muted colours and pastel shades (Robinson 1969, p. 41). Afterwards, except for a short period when she was employed by an advertising agency, she worked as a freelance textile designer for notable English firms such as G. P. & J. Baker, Hayward & Sons, Warner & Sons, and Donald Brothers, among others. In 1939, scenes of Austrian life by Angerer, Melly Hoffer and Clara Sulzer-Breuer decorated the walls of the newly opened premises of the Austrian Centre in Paddington (AC, a cultural gathering point for the Austrian refugee community in London, Vinzent 2006, p. 36). The Jewish Chronicle in reporting this initiative described Angerer and her fellow collaborators as 'refugee women', although Angerer's arrival in the UK had preceded the rise of Nazism (Jewish Chronicle, 24 March 1939, p. 20). In the same year Angerer was listed in Herbert George Hayes Marshall's publication, British Textile Designers Today. She became a naturalised British subject in 1949 and was a member of the National Register of Designers. Angerer's designs for woven fabric and a carpet were included in the nationwide Festival of Britain in 1951. Her bold designs Circles, produced for Hayward & Sons’ Spring Collection in 1963, were featured in an exhibition held at the Wall Paper Manufacturers Ltd. (WPM)’s Architects Showroom.
Mea Angerer died in London, England in 1978. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a furnishing fabric and a pattern book containing 151 specimens of wallpaper designed by Angerer for Hull Traders Ltd. and for Shand Kydd Ltd, respectively. Her work is also represented in the National Archives, London and the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts), Vienna.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Mea Angerer]
Publications related to [Mea Angerer] in the Ben Uri Library