MASTER CRAFTSMAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 25, 9 November 1936, Page 6

MASTER CRAFTSMAN.

HEPPLEWHITE FURNITURE. To-day such names as Chippendale, HeppleAvhite, and Sheraton arc as familiar as those of Reynolds and Romney, says the “Cape Times.” Yet these master designers, avlio must have come into such close contact with, the fashionable world of their day, remain almost figures of legend. If a film producer desired to make any of them the object of a screen story he Avould have to draAV upon his imagination for details. No portrait is known to exist. We oAve it to HeppleAvhite that household, furniture became less cumbersome and more elegant, and in respect of handling and polishing more labour-saving. He broke with the massive forms of the earlier Georgian period, Avith its wealth of carved detail, pleasant enough to the eye, but difficult to clean and keep free from dust. He is credited Avith having invented the well-known heart-shaped and shield-shaped backs, which continue to be reproduced in large quantities by present-day chair designers, as Avell as the devices Avith AA-hich such backs Avere filled—the Prince of Wales’s feathers, the Avheat-ear, and others. Such claims are open to dispute. The cabinetmakers of those days freely appropriated each other’s designs, and included them in their own manuals Avithout acknowledgment of any kind. It is sufficient that it Avas Avith the HeppleAvhite style these features became associated in the public mind. HeppleAvhite’s classic “Guide” Avas, oddly enough, not published till two years after his death. The credit of publication belongs to his capable wife. Women qualified to run their husband’s business Avere not so common in those days as now. ‘ The AvidoAV HeppleAA'hite, however, promptly took control of the Cripplegate business, ran it successfully, and prepared her late husband’s designs for the press. She herself probably supplied much of the information in the “Guide.” The instructions on suitable upholstery and furniture arrangement betray a feminine touch. “Mahogany chairs,” avo are told, “should have seats of horsehair, plain, striped, or chequered. If cane seats are preferred, th cushion eases should match the Avindow curtains.” In an age Avhen scientific colour schemes Avere unknown, this last sentence has quite a prophetic ring.