Recent Posts
The Textile Blog
Return To Blog Listing
This blog concerns the history of interiors and interior furnishings from 1840 to 1980. It includes information on a wide range of designers, manufacturers and retailers.
Recent Posts Tagged With '1900s'
Sandor Nagy Tapestries and the Magyar Origin
Sandor Nagy. Sakuntala tapestry 1909The two tapestries shown here were both produced in the first decade of the twentieth century, but reflect very little of that century or even its potential as seen from the first decade.Both tapestries are firmly ...
Art Nouveau and Electric Lighting
Emile Galle Inkcaps cast iron and glass lamp 1902There was an often bizarre assembly of electric lighting when, after initial experimentation and testing, the idea of the use of electricity to light domestic homes was first introduced.In many cases e...
Frank Lloyd Wright and the Copper Urn
Frank Lloyd Wright copper urn 1898This copper urn was a favourite of Frank Lloyd Wrights. He designed the first one in 1898, but produced only a few examples between that date and 1909. They were created originally to sit within some of Wrights early...
Lindsay Philip Butterfield, the British and Art Nouveau
Lindsay Philip Butterfield Hawkweed wallpaper design 1902Lindsay Philip Butterfield was one of the most successful British textile and wallpaper designers at the turn of the twentieth century. Today he is largely forgotten, although a number of conte...
The Craftsman House as a Harmonious Experience
Gustav Stickley Craftsman Bungalow 1904In the May 1903 issue of Gustav Stickley's The Craftsman magazine, the plans and perspective views of the first Craftsman house were published. This was to become a regular feature during the life of the magazin...
Gustav Stickley's Metal Workshop
Gustav Stickley Wrought iron & copper chandelier 1905In 1902 Gustav Stickley added a metal workshop to complement the already established Craftsman Workshops. In-house metalworking was principally set up by Stickley as a means of supplying metalw...
Carin Wastberg and the Swedish Arts & Crafts Movement
Carin Wastberg The Sun Goes Down 1902In the late nineteenth century, Carin Wastberg was a forceful proponent of her native Sweden taking its major art and craft themes and ideas from the British Arts & Crafts movement, rather than continue with t...
Arthur and Lucia Mathews and the Furniture Shop of San Francisco
Arthur and Lucia Mathews Oak drop front desk c1910-1915Californian husband and wife team Arthur Frank and Lucia Kleinhans Mathews were involved in a wide variety of decorative interior arts. In their time they produced art and design work for fine ar...
Dirk van Erp - an Arts & Crafts Craftsman
Dirk van Erp was a Dutch born American designer and a true member of the Arts & Crafts movement. Rather than pondering rural Utopias, or the fate of the worker, he lived the real life of the Arts & Crafts ideal, as he was both a skilled craft...
The Embroidery Work of Mary J Newill
Mary J Newill The Owls embroidered hanging 1905Mary J Newill was an important part of the Birmingham Arts & Crafts movement. Although not a member of the local Birmingham Guild of Handicraft, or the Bromsgrove Guild, Newill had her own studio in ...
Ernest Gimson Metalwork
Ernest Gimson & Alfred Bucknell Brass candle sconces 1910In the first decade of the twentieth century Ernest Gimson teamed up with a local blacksmith, Alfred Bucknell in order to start producing design work in a different medium than Gimson was u...
Abstract Patterns of 1900
Rene Beauclair 1900It is important to remember that the idea of abstract pattern and design is not a twentieth century invention, but has been used in one form or another since the creation of pattern in early cultures. Having said that, it has often...
C F A Voysey and Donegal Carpets
C F A Voysey The Wyndham 1900sAs well as being a versatile and profuse textile designer, Charles Francis Annesley Voysey was also much in demand as a carpet and rug designer. He produced numerous designs over a forty year period from the 1890s to the...
The Art Nouveau Revival of the 1970s
The Art Nouveau movement saw a second revival in the 1970s, over half a century after the initial movement. Art Nouveau was not the only style that was rediscovered and re-energised in the 1970s. There was a strong interest in the Art Deco movement, ...
Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Stained Glass
Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1902Although Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed for stained glass, he did not himself work in the medium. Stained glass was often bespoke and was often specifically commissioned for a particular building and was therefore de...
John Pearson and the Newlyn Industrial Class
John Pearson Copper charger with galleon & dolphins 1906John Pearson is probably better known today for his connection with the Newlyn Industrial Class, but he was initially a designer of ceramics for William de Morgan. He was also one of the fou...
Anna Frances Simpson and Embroidered Textiles
Anna Frances Simpson Cypress in Spring 1910sAnna Frances Simpson is probably better known for her ceramic art, however she also produced a certain amount of work in embroidered textiles.Her work in both ceramics and textiles, is intrinsically linked ...
