Hygena
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Retailer |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Founders | George Nunn and Len Cooklin |
| Headquarters | Milton Keynes, UK |
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Area served
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United Kingdom |
| Products | Kitchens, furniture, appliances |
| Owner | J Sainsbury plc |
| Website | www.argos.co.uk/hygena |
Hygena is a brand of fitted kitchen and furniture operating in the United Kingdom.
Started in Liverpool in 1925 to make Hoosier cabinets, it was bought by new investors in 1938, who after the war built modular kitchens for the new British post-war temporary prefab houses. With the introduction of design concepts based on the Frankfurt kitchen and new materials such as formica, Hygena became the dominant brand in kitchens from the 1960s through the 1970s. But mass manufacture and a change in styles meant that it ended up as an economy brand in the UK, bought out in the 1987 by the MFI Group. MFI sold the mainland European rights to the brand to Nobia in 2006, who on MFI's bankruptcy two years later also bought the global brand rights. However, the UK and Irish rights were bought by the Home Retail Group in 2009. Nobia sold the international rights to the brand to Groupe Fournier in 2015, who replaced it with its own SoCoo'c brand over the next 18 months. In 2016, the Home Retail Group was purchased by the UK retailer Sainsbury's, including the UK and Irish rights and the sole use of the Hygena brand.
The Hygena Cabinet Co. Ltd was established in 1925 in Liverpool by George Nunn and Len Cooklin, to make a variety of the then popular Hoosier cabinets. As the Hoosier dwindled in popularity, so did the company's sales, resulting in the company's going bankrupt in 1938.
Bought up by new investors, it made produce for the Ministry of War during World War II. Returning to civilian production, it became involved with the design and manufacture of kitchens for post-war temporary prefab houses. The Ministry of Works had specified a set of design conformance instructions, while the majority of manufacturers were using former war-time scale facilities, which resulted in a preference for factory-based mass manufacture.
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Wikipedia