Katz, Bronek 1912 - 1960

Bronek Katz was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 2 October 1912 and studied architecture at the National University in Vienna (1930-35). In 1936, soon after qualifying, he moved to England and was employed in the London office of architects Walter Gropius (1883-1969) and Maxwell Fry(1889-1967)  from May 1936 to September 1939.

During World War Two he worked on exhibitions for the Ministry of Information. Following the war he continued with exhibition commissions, becoming an associate member of the Design Research Unit (DRU). In 1945 he teamed up with Reginald Vaughan (1906–1971), who had previously worked as an assistant to Fry, and together they won a competition to design a Richard Shop in Regent Street, London. Katz and Vaughan subsequently received commissions to design shops for Freeman Hardy & Willis, Bata, and Truform. They also worked on the design of the Tea Shop in Regent Street (with Misha Black of the DRU, and others), a restaurant on the rue de Tivoli in Paris (with Misha Black), the ‘Darkness Into Daylight’ exhibition at the Science Museum, the ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 1946, the Homes and Gardens Pavilion at the Festival of Britain South Bank exhibition in 1951, the Ontario Services Club on Regent Street, London (with Misha Black), and various hotels and houses.  

During the 1950s Katz worked as an architect for Bata Development for whom he for whom he travelled widely in Africa, Canada and the Middle East, and designed houses, flats and workers' houses in West Africa.  Katz was a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists (FSIA) and lived in London. He died in 1960