001 Sussex chair
Sussex chair
circa. 1860
Ebonised beech, rush seat
The Sussex Armchair was most likely designed by Philip Webb for William Morris’s own house, the Red House, around 1860.
It was based on an English country chair from the Regency period, found in Sussex – hence the name.
The chairs were produced by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., and later by Morris & Co., in various styles in black, brown and (very rarely) red. They sold in large numbers in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, were widely copied and sold through well known furniture retailers such as Liberty’s and Heals.
They became an icon of artistic style and were to be found in the studios of Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, and Alfred Gilbert, the sculptor of Eros at London’s Piccadilly Circus.
A flat printed material can be cut out and assembled on your desk top – then you realise there is a small diorama around it. Our mission as curators of the 1:16 mini museum is to deliver this little wonder through a history of chairs and their associated interiors.
It might be difficult to own the real historical chairs – but you can reconstruct a tiny corner of a room and enjoy the history of the chair and interior with this ‘mini museum’!
CREATOR
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