I was working at a shop in Staunton,Va. in the early nineties, building two dressers for the boss and his wife. He must have been bragging about the fine furnishings being produced at his business because one day I'm hand dovetailing all these drawers together when this guy comes in, walks over to me and says "You must be the joiner". It was the highest compliment he could have possibly given me.
I served my apprenticeship in the late seventies and early eighties at the Biggs.Company of Richmond,Va. Put to work in the cabinet room, I sanded until my fingers were raw. I was immersed in a world of mahogany where everything fell into one of three categories of formal furniture: Queen Anne, Chippendale, or Hepplewhite. I learned to fit pieces to fairly precise tolerances; assembled mostly corner cabinets, secretaries, blockfronts, bowfronts, breakfronts... I worked on all the different styles of furniture, but the look of the "Hepplewhite" pieces must have made an impression on me because today this has become my passion.
I learned years later of the history behind the furniture and where and how each style originated.
There were actualy three significant British furniture designers of the eighteenth century: Thomas Chippendale, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton. Chippendale was "old school"from the rococo period; lots of heavily carved pieces, ball and claw feet, a little too ornate for my taste. But there was a distinct paradigm shift in tastes between Chippendale |
