Plastic Seat Mogul Lured The Stars To His Hotel

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday October 27, 2008

Pat Sheil

HARRY SEBEL

1915-2008

HARRY SEBEL'S idea of heaven, he once said, was "a big, unending plastic trade fair in the sky". His idea was understandable. For decades his name was synonymous with functional, affordable furniture, and he made his fortune as a pioneer of the use of moulded plastics in Australia.

Asked in 1982 how many of his stackable chairs he had sold, Sebel said he had sold more than 3 million by 1971. He had not had time to sit down and count them since. That was not surprising - Sebel was never still for long, and worried if he took more than a day off work.

Simplicity was the secret of success, his father had told him.

"Complicated solutions to any problem are fairly easy to come by, but it takes genius plus a fair amount of perspiration to arrive at a simple solution," he said.

Harry Sebel, who has died at 92, was born to David and Bessie Sebel. David was a wheelwright who left Russia in 1910, set up his business in London and lived in a boarding house; Bessie was the landlord's daughter. They married and moved to Westcliff-on-Sea, where Harry was born.

Realising that the days of horses, carts and wheelwrights were numbered, Sebel snr diversified into metalwork. His company built fire-escapes, gates, fences and more ornate wrought iron work. Sebel left school at 15 and joined his father's business.

In 1936 he met Queenie Coller; they married and were to be devoted to each other for 72 years.

Sebel trained on the job as a draftsman and architectural ironwork designer, while working in every aspect of the business, a comprehensive apprenticeship that he credited with his later success in manufacturing.

The company expanded in support of Britain's war effort in the early 1940s. As World War II ended, Sebel persuaded his father to abandon one-off architectural work and move into toy manufacturing. The Sebels were to have a hit with the Mobo Bronco, which put the humble rocking horse on ratchet-powered wheels. Despite their success, the family despaired at the outlook for postwar Britain. Sebel saw the push for government planning as hostile to private enterprise. The Sebels wanted to move from their Dickensian factory, but planners wanted them to go to a depressed area such as Wales or Scotland.

The decision to set up a subsidiary in Australia proved fateful. Gradually, the entire family moved out, starting with Harry's sisters in 1948, Harry and Queenie in 1951, then David and Bessie. David Sebel died in 1962, by which time the family enterprise was thriving.

The company invested in plastic moulding technology and, by being the first to sell durable, light and cheap furniture, created a niche market in which it was the only player.

Sebel bought property in Elizabeth Bay to develop a block of bachelor flats. But a planning dispute prevented that project from proceeding, so in 1963 he opened the Sebel Town House, which for decades was the preferred way-station for showbusiness types of every stripe. Tales of bizarre nocturnal behaviour by rock bands and others are legion, but misbehaving rockers did not bother Harry Sebel. They were, if anything, a plus.

If Sebel heard records being played frequently on radio, he would gamble that the singers would visit Sydney, and approach promoters for their business. The entertainers usually liked the hotel and came back. The Sebel hosted most visiting rock acts of the 1970s and '80s, including Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen and Elton John, who stayed there when he married in Sydney in 1984. Shrieking fans would gather across the road seeking a glimpse or an autograph - Abba's fans blocked Elizabeth Bay Road for hours on end. The disabled Ian Dury, of Sex & Drugs & Rock'n Roll fame, was so smashed in the Sebel's bar during his 1981 tour that his manager took him to his room and took his calliper so that he could not move. Dury, still thirsty, crawled to the lift and slithered into the bar demanding drink, abusing a crowd of business types who had just checked in. The new guests were given a free night's stay, and Dury gently escorted back upstairs.

The Town House was sold in 1981, and in 1982 Sebel sold out of the furniture business that still bears his name. A brief retirement was followed by the launch of another plastic moulding business, specialising in "unbreakable" crockery.

Sebel was awarded the OAM in 1999 for services to Australian design. He is survived by Queenie, sons Roger and Richard, sisters Tilli and Phyllis, and grandchildren Ben, Jane Nick and Annie.