Welcome To Instinct Antiques New Antiques Blog

Victorian Furniture was it built to last?

Submitted: 08/07/2013 17:20:00

The round piano stool in rosewood, mahogany or walnut with the wind-up screw mechanism was becoming familiar in about 1860. Today it remains one of the most popular small pieces of Victorian furniture.

Fire screens were made in all shapes and sizes, chair screens for fixing on the back of chairs, screens fixed to standing pedestals and hand-held screens in the shape of a fan, also there were folding screens for keeping out draughts, often these screens were beautifully hand painted, some were plain and some of leather. There was also at the time the what-not, which consisted of tiered shelves on a wood frame, mostly in walnut, elaborately inlaid. The whatnot also went by the name omnium. It is believed the whatnot was in use in the 1530's and secondly in 1808.

Simple country furniture was considered as the ideal. Typically the Morris or Susses chair which was introduced by the William Morris company in about 1865 which was constructed of ebonised beechwood, rush-seated and straight-backed.

In around 1830 Michael Thonet of Vienna discovered that by steaming moist beechwood this could be bent into a circular shape, which resulted in eliminating joints completely and by the 1850's bentwood furniture was hugely popular in England, especially used in restaurants and hotels.

In 1880 William Morris commented "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful". This became the thinking behind art furniture. Amongst it's innovations were plain oak stained green, furniture with painted scenes, bright mahogany, ebonised furniture. The favourite motif being the sunflower. The art-furniture movement produced masterpieces - the furniture made by William Burges - also ebonised furniture was taken over by commercial manufacturers.

It can be said that most art furniture may have been beautiful, however not a lot of it was of much use. Plus, this furniture was very expensive as was also the furniture of the Arts and Crafts Movement which had been instigated by William Morris.

Typically those involved in this movement was the Century Guild which was formed in 1882. Many of the makers worked outside of London. A school of furniture-making grew up in the Cotswold's.

Art-Deco Furniture - what is it? The best art-deco furniture was made in France from unusual exotic materials; wood covered with parchment, chrome and smoked glass; painted wood contrasting with lacquer in the same piece; expensive woods, such as amboyna often laid in zigzag patterns; and materials which had previously not been considered worthy of expensive furniture such as aluminum. Characteristic of this age was bent plywood, which harked back some eighty years to the bentwood chairs.

These talented designers from Britain, the Continent and America created furniture, some of which was described as geometric, austere in the finest and most tasteful of woods. Some was dynamic with elements from cultures mostly discovered or popularised such as the Aztec, this was best seen in the stepped sides of radio sets. There was a great fascination in curved forms - semi-circular armchairs on a plinth, wide-bowed cabinets with horizontal stringing of bright metal which went to emphasize the curvature. There was also the dashing, streamlined, glittery furniture of the jazz age. This concept served no purpose other than to startle. Much of it being handmade, and very expensive. Watered-down versions of the progressive designs in cinema foyers, in hotels and restaurants and in high-class stores with a reputation for adventure were very prevalent.

There was some very good art-deco furniture made which made amazingly good prices in London however, when introduced to the provinces was largely disregarded. The best art-deco is plain, with woods such as birds-eye maple, satinwood and rosewood as veneer often on a bent carcase of plywood; with fittings of plastic or other similar materials. Most of the dumpy armchairs, long low sideboard, S - shaped chrome-tubed chairs etc, have survived purely because of the quality of the workmanship being good.

World War II brought an end to adventure. The authorities banned the production of all furniture except for Utility. This was widely disliked, being plain, functional with no ornamental designs or deep upholstery.

Michael Davies