Philip Clissett by Maxwell Balfour, 1898

Philip Clissett (born 8 January 1817, Birtsmorton,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, England; died 17 January 1913,

Bosbury Bosbury is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, approximately north of Ledbury. The small River Leadon flows through the parish, passing along the west side of the village.Ordnance Survey mapping Bosbury shares a parish cou ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

) was a Victorian country chairmaker who influenced and inspired the English Arts and Crafts Movement through various architects and designers. His chance meeting with James MacLaren has been described as "undoubtedly a seminal point in the subsequent development of the Arts and Crafts Movement", and led to the furnishing of the meeting room of the

Art Workers Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

with a large number of his chairs which can still be seen today. These chairs have been "highly influential", having been "seen by almost everyone involved in art and design from the late 1880s". They particularly influenced

Ernest Gimson Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputati ...

who, in 1890, spent six weeks with Clissett learning to make ladderback chairs. Clissett's chairs were popular with the Arts and Crafts cognoscenti, and were used by

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

in early commissions, and by the architectural team of

Richard Barry Parker Richard Barry Parker (18 November 1867 – 21 February 1947) was an English architect and urban planner associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. He was primarily known for his architectural partnership with Raymond Unwin. Biography ...

and

Raymond Unwin Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. Early years Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, York ...

. They were also used as part of the original furnishing of the Passmore Edwards Settlement at Mary Ward House, 5 Tavistock Place, London by the architects A. Dunbar Smith and C. Cecil Brewer. The following is a list of more or less well-known people who are known to have had Clissett's ladderback chairs amongst the furnishings in their home: Dugald S. MacColl, Sidney Barnsley, Ernest Barnsley, Geoffrey Lupton,

Norman Jewson Norman Jewson (12 February 1884 – 28 August 1975) was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practised in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Glouce ...

George Frampton Sir George James Frampton, (18 June 1860 – 21 May 1928) was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combinin ...

Emery Walker Sir Emery Walker FSA (2 April 1851 – 22 July 1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers G ...

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

Philip Burne-Jones Sir Philip William Burne-Jones, 2nd Baronet (1 October 1861 – 21 June 1926) was the first child of the British Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana Macdonald. He became a well-known painter in his own right, pr ...

, Wilson Bidwell (architect of

Letchworth Town Hall Letchworth Town Hall is a municipal building in Broadway, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Letchworth Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building. History Letchworth was developed in th ...

, Cecil Hignett (probable; architect of the Spirella Building,

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

Charles Canning Winmill Charles Canning Winmill FRIBA (14 January 1865 – 11 January 1945) was an English architect working in the Arts and Crafts style during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent much of his career in the London County Council's architec ...

(probable). By the late 1890s, Clissett was well-known enough for his portrait (see right), by Maxwell Balfour, to appear in a prestigious arts journal, The Quarto. Clissett made chairs in the West Midlands tradition, turning the parts from fresh, unseasoned ash (''

Fraxinus excelsior ''Fraxinus excelsior'', known as the ash, or European ash or common ash to distinguish it from other types of ash, is a flowering plant species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is native throughout mainland Europe east to the Caucasus and Albor ...

'') with a

pole lathe A pole lathe, also known as a springpole lathe, is a wood-turning lathe that uses the elasticity within a long pole as a return spring for a treadle. Pressing the treadle pulls on a cord that is usually wrapped around the piece of wood or billet be ...

. Other parts were sawn and shaped with a

drawknife A drawknife (drawing knife, draw shave, shaving knife) is a traditional woodworking hand tool used to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer (along the cutting edge) than it is d ...

while held in a shave horse. Seats were generally made from an elm board, or from woven rush. While rush-seated ladderback chairs are his most well-known output, he also made spindleback chairs which are often stamped with his initials. Clissett is often referred to as a

bodger Bodging (full name Chair-Bodgering) is a traditional woodturning craft, using green (unseasoned) wood to make chair legs and other cylindrical parts of chairs. The work was done close to where a tree was felled. The itinerant craftsman who made t ...

but this is incorrect as he made entire chairs rather than just turned parts. Clissett's chairs are now widely collected, and can be found in various museums and collections, including: *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London * Geffrye Museum, London *

William Morris Gallery The William Morris Gallery is a museum devoted to the life and works of William Morris, an English Arts and Crafts designer and early socialist. It is located in Walthamstow at Water House, a substantial Grade II* listed Georgian home. The ext ...

, Walthamstow, London * 7 Hammersmith Terrace, London *

Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

, Glasgow * New Walk Museum, Leicester * Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire *

Worcestershire County Museum Worcestershire County Museum is a local museum located within Hartlebury Castle in Hartlebury, Worcestershire, England, near the City of Worcester. The Museum is one of three sites run by Museums Worcestershire, a Museums Service run in partners ...

, Hartlebury, Worcestershire * Hereford Museum and Art Gallery, Hereford
Butcher Row House Museum
Ledbury, Herefordshire * Rodmarton Manor, nr Cirencester, Gloucestershire * Marchmont House, nr Greenlaw, Berwickshire *

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

, USA
Crab Tree Farm
Lake Bluff, Illinois, USA

References

External links

Philip Clissett Research Website - much more detail and images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clissett, Philip British furniture makers 19th-century English people People from Herefordshire 1817 births 1913 deaths Arts and Crafts movement