No cabinetmaker’s name is better known than Thomas Chippendale’s. This lecture examines the basis for his fame and concludes that he was to English Furniture what Shakespeare was to English Literature! It was Chippendale’s creative design talent together with his traditionally skilled craftsmanship which enabled him, through his cabinet making business, to design and produce some of the finest and most innovative examples of 18th century English furniture in the Rococo, ‘Chinese’, Gothic and Neo-Classic style, as this lecture will show. The study day covers in detail how his business operated and scrutinises the various styles (Rococo, Chinese & Gothic) depicted in his famous book The Gentleman and Cabinet -Maker’s Directory and also the furniture he produced in the Neo-Classical style which was not illustrated in his book but superseded it.
