Furniture: Some of the early factories produced nearly all the standard furniture forms; others specialized in one or more, but whether their product was a full line or limited, it was sold in wholesale quantities to a new type of merchant, the retail furniture dealer. At first he referred to his establishment as a furniture or cabinet warehouse and later as a furniture store. If located in one of the larger cities he might also have his own factory but he was essentially a middle man and with his coming, direct contact between the maker and user of a piece of furniture ended.
CHIPPENDALE FURNITURE is furniture in the style of Thomas Chippendale (q.v.), the most famous English cabinetmaker of the second half of the 18th century. This period, the golden age of English furniture design and craftsmanship, was dominated by Chippendale, who designed and manufactured fine furniture at his shop in St. Martin's Lane, London. Chippendale's book of designs, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director . . . , first published in London in 1754, had enormous influence on furniture design throughout Europe and in the United States, and its influence is still felt in the 20th century. |
