We produced an Arts & Crafts kitchen for the current owner of Edwin Lutyens house Little Thakeham. But the previous owner of the house was also an avid & well known Arts & Crafts collector, and they commioned these couple of Arts & Crafts carver dining chairs, for their breakfast room.

The chairs are 50/50 Voysey & Liberty style. But more Voysey, as Liberty copied Voysey's chair design, and made a few adaptions. This chair design would go on to heavily influence Stickley & the Mission style makers in the USA. The top photograph actually shows a Voysey oak side table in between the 2 chairs. Voysey was always a designer's designer.

The backsplat cut-out design is definately a Liberty touch. All front facing timber & the 2 arm rests use 1/4 sawn oak; mainly for the decorative grain this produces (but also because this cut is more stable). The square seat uses a proper drop in seat frame with corner blocks, with a hand rushed seat. Very labour intensive but authentic for this style of chair. The obvious alternative was the leather upholstered seat. the chair was left natural & given a light oil finish. The 2 chairs above right are Liberty chairs from the period & clearly show the influence upon the new chairs design.