Founded in 1931 under the name Isokon, the furniture design and architecture company was an important reference point for emigrants such as Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy, Ernst Riess and Edith Tudor-Hart. A number of émigré architects and designers were resident at the Isokon Building in Lawn Road during the 1930s; they were commissioned for designs or worked as graphic designers or photographers for the company, whose founders were Jack Pritchard, Molly Pritchard and Wells Coates. Jack Pritchard in particular supported the German-speaking emigrants who had been coming to London since 1933. He helped Gropius with entry formalities and offered him a flat in his Lawn Road Flats (also known as the Isokon Building) (Hammel 2006, 24).

The Lawn Road Flats, designed by Wells Coates and commissioned by Jack Pritchard, were completed in 1934 (Daybelge 2019). The conception was based on principles of urban ‘good living’ and a reduced living space that nonetheless offered all conveniences deemed necessary for comfortable living, such as built-in cupboards, sliding doors, a dressing room and a small kitchen (Darling 2012, 65–73). The construction and opening of Lawn Road Flats were photographed by Edith Tudor-Hart, a photographer who had emigrated from Vienna (Forbes 2005, 62). Tudor-Hart also designed the Lawn Road Flats’ Christmas Card of 1934.
While trying to establish himself as a freelance architect, Gropius had also worked as the art director of the Isokon Furniture Company. Marcel Breuer, another Lawn Road resident, was similarly involved with Isokon. He was responsible for designing a collection of plywood furniture for the company (Powers 2019, 90f.) that translated his seating furniture of the 1920s into an aesthetic appropriate for wood (Grieve 2004, 34f.) In the manifesto Circle (1937), co-written by British avant-gardists and emigrants, Breuer described in an essay his metamorphosis from the use of aluminium to wood (Breuer 1937).

In 1937 the central kitchen of Lawn Road Flats, which provided the tenants with meals to order, was converted into a restaurant with a bar, the ‘Isobar’, which became the social hub of the building. The name ‘Isobar’ was composed of ‘Iso’ for Isokon and ‘bar’ for barometer, referring to Molly Pritchard’s passion for weather forecasts – a barograph was prominently installed (Freise 2009, 29; Allan 2016, 63). The Isobar was fitted with furniture by Isokon, designed by the émigré Bauhaus artist Marcel Breuer. A map of northwest London was pinned to the wall next to the bar. City, map and bar were thus brought together conceptually and the Isobar marked as an urban location for amusement and conversation (Allan 2016, 63) The Isobar was also a venue for talks and exhibitions  – for instance with works by Bob Wellington and John Piper shown during July 1938 (Freise 2009, 127). The Isobar was a meeting place for the residents of Lawn Road Flats. Among them were the founder and director of the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, Walter Gropius and his wife Ise Gropius (Burke 2014, 50f.; MacLean 2021, 83–116)
The émigrés, together with their artistic and intellectual circle, came together in 1937 to send off Walter Gropius, who had decided to leave Britain for Harvard University. The Farewell Dinner for Gropius, hosted by the biologist Julian Huxley, took place on 9 March at the Trocadero Restaurant in Coventry Street. Die bill of Fare was designed by László Moholy-Nagy who was also responsible for a leaflet design commissioned by Isokon.

Even after Gropius, Breuer and Moholy-Nagy left London, Isokon remained a destination for emigrants. The émigré architect Egon Riss lived at Lawn Road Flats in 1939, financially supported by the Architects’ Czech Refugee Relief Fund. The housing situation led to collaboration. Riss created several designs for Isokon, including one of the company’s most successful and iconic pieces of furniture, the Isokon Penguin Donkey. This was a small plywood bookcase made to measure for Penguin Press paperbacks (Hammel 2006, 31). Newspapers and magazines could also be stored in a slot between the two sides. Riss also designed a smaller version, the Isokon Gull, which could be hung on the wall (Daybelge/Englund 2019, 161). The Isokon Penguin Donkey and Isokon Gull are still in production today, a testament to the creativity of the community of exiled artists in London in the 1930s and 1940s.