Brynmawr was among the poorest in Wales in the 1920s. Here, the Quakers believed their utopian aims could be realised: to create work and re-skill the unemployed. These ideals were promoted throughout their marketing and appealed to the middle and professional classes of the 1930s.

Among other enterprises set up within the town were boot making, hosiery and weaving, but the furniture was the most successful.