Description:Two images that typify the depiction of Cadbury and, indeed, the image of its female employees in the early twentieth century, are the watercolour design of A Bournville Workroom, c.1910, attributed to H.N. Bradbear,<small><sup>1</sup></small> and the cover illustration for <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1778">Bournville Work & Play</a>, designed by Frederick Taylor.<small><sup>2</sup></small> Both images aimed to illustrate the Bournville ethos and ultimately Cadbury’s brand identity. The key areas of Cadbury’s Bournville Works that were emphasised, or promoted by the company, included the locality of the factory and the physical environment in which its goods were produced. This resulted in an abundance of imagery depicting small workrooms with large windows looking out onto rural landscapes, rows of women wearing pristine white uniforms working around workbenches, hand decorating or packing chocolates. These images depicting happy Cadbury’s workers in bright, clean airy spaces were created to inform the viewer that that was a company that looked after its employees, that the care and dedication that went into the spaces where the products were created was a reflection of the quality of the final Cadbury’s product. This presentation and depiction of the female workforce was replicated in advertisements such as <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1770"> This is a Bournville Workroom</a> as well as publications during the first half of the twentieth century; the composition altered very little except for changes in fashion and hairstyle. Various methods were used to present the image of a small-scale manufactory. For example, the cover designs for Bournville Work & Play, depict women employees packing chocolates; the illustration is framed by a vivid red boarder which extends into the image bluntly blocking out the extension of the factory space beyond the first two rows of workbenches. Within the same publication the author refers to the ‘homely’ appearance of the workrooms as befitting for ‘The Factory in the Garden’.<small><sup>3</sup></small>
<font color="#666633"><small><sup>1</sup> The watercolour of a Bournville Workroom, although undated was probably painted around 1910 by H.N. Bradbear. A similar series of watercolour designs were published as postcards about the same time by the artist.
<sup>2</sup> Bournville Work & Play (Bournville, 1926) [BA&H: LP.66.53.BOU]
<sup>3</sup> Bournville Work & Play, p.23</small></font>