1900 FURNITURE STYLES

This is part of a photo project - documenting the old arts of craftsmen.

This 2nd episode features Joaquim Ferreira, "ebeniste", literally meaning "ebony specialist", which is really a wood worker. These days, Joaquim does more than restore old furniture. From just pieces, he researches what the original "coffre" (chest) would have looked like, and reconstitutes woodwork from scratch using techniques over 200 years old. The glue is heated over an electric stove, the only modern piece of equipment I saw in his "atelier" (studio), composed of a small entrance, a back room, and and L shaped room to the left of the bulb-lit backroom. Water is added to the pot over which the glue stews so as not to catch fire. Plaque (adding a paper thin wood panel to another wood panel of inferior quality) wood doesn't cover a fraction of the modern Ebeniste's work. Joaquim goes to flea markets to find ancient keys, locks, and has a plethora of passes to unlock locks of eclectic complexity. Most pieces of ancient furniture, as royal as they may be, are missing locks, keys, entire panels of woods, hinges. Joaquim manually (with home-made/ancient tools) shapes the old keys to fit the locks. He polishes it all, polishes the metal, adds new wood, to renew Louis XV armoires, or Louis XVI secretaires. He showed me detailed locks and embellishments, unique to each king, stating that every king demanded his own style, which he bought off over the years, so that he can properly restore chests and armoires coming to his shop from all of Burgundy's castles. Indeed, no royal heir could leave his mark in History without creating a new style in decoration and in furniture, Joaquim reminds us. And even if some of the style is echoed in other countries, in later times, the original furniture calls for original locks, true to the original style. The woodwork was mandmade and is still mandmade by a handful of artists like Joaquim, restoring a few owner's heirloom and preserving French history.

Location: Staffordshire
Gross Area: 4000 to 5000 square metres [sqm]

An ambitious Heritage Trail, featuring landscaping and an outdoor educational area.

We have designed an exciting new Heritage Trail at Ingestre Hall in Staffordshire. Formally home to the Earl of Shrewsbury, this is a magnificent Grade II* listed building. It features part Jacobean, has Nash rear facade and grounds designed by Capability Brown.

The Heritage Trail comprises fifteen points of interest. These are situated between installations - called Follies - crafted in the style of traditional English Country House landscaping. Some of the Follies were in the form of furniture and a further few were audio-visual projections situated within the Hall itself.

The intention of these sculpted Follies is to bring added activity and interest to the grounds. In turn this will encourage attention to the gardens and maintenance of the existing mounts and overall site. While the concept of sculptured Follies is historic, their appearance here is of a contemporary design with elements responding to the historical context and function.

This is especially true in the case of the Observatory Folly. Built as a response to the observatory that Walter Chetwynd used for his astronomical observations. It also pays homage to his friend Sir Christopher Wren, who shared this same interest and was a fellow at the Royal Society.

Meanwhile, the Camera Obscura is another very different Folly altogether. It demonstrates a very direct way of engaging with the functions a Folly may offer. In this instance a form is featured that creates a darkened space to see an image of the Hall.