A set of 4 Heals Cotswold School oak lattice-back chairs dating to 1920 - 1930. Each has chamfered legs and a drop-in seat; and each has been recently re-upholstered in cream coloured linen and had its underside webbing renewed (see image).

History

The Cotswold School

The Cotswold School was a development of the Arts and Craft Movement started largely by architect-designers Ernest Gimson and Sidney and Ernest Barnsley, who relocated from London to the Cotswolds in the 1890s. The furniture is instantly recognisable with its simple utilitarian lines, attention to detail, and use of honest materials. Cotswold School designs were crafted from local materials, using traditional tools and techniques. Exposed joinery, pegged joints, attention to wood grain, chamfered edges were the only form of decorative detail – details born from the result of the cabinet making process.  The style was embraced and developed by other designers and craftsmen including Gordon Russell and Ambrose Heal, who developed their own styles within the movement, such as these beautifully proportioned chairs sold through the retailer Heals.

Heals

Originally established in 1810 as a feather-dressing business by John Harris Heal and his son (Heal & Son), the business moved to Tottenham Court Road, London in 1818, where its flagship store has remained ever since. It expanded into bedding, bedstead and furniture manufacture and retailing; and by the end of the nineteenth century it was one of the leading furniture suppliers in London.

The notability of Heals rests upon the achievements of Sir Ambrose Heal, who worked in the company as craftsman, designer - and finally chairman - from 1893 to 1953. Ambrose Heal’s contribution to his business, and to British furniture-making and applied design history as a whole, was his marriage of the Arts and Crafts Movement ethos with the world of commerce.  This resulted in beautifully designed, more affordable everyday furniture, and brought high calibre product design to a middleclass market. Founding the Design and Industries Association in 1915 with a group of likeminded designers and industrialists, Heal developed his business in accordance with this philosophy and a slogan "Nothing Need Be Ugly".

Country of origin: UK
Date: c.1920
Material: oak

Full Height 90cm  Height to seat 46cm  

Full Width (of seat front) 45cm  Width of back 37.5cm

Full Depth 47cm  Depth of seat including frame 40cm

Condition: very good with small repair to the back and front of the lattice of one chair - see images

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