An Arts & Crafts Cotswold School English Ash Armchair by Edward Gardiner c. 1920. A lovely design and hard to find both unrestored and with Gardiner’s mark present. Featuring:

• Rush seat.

• Hand turned legs united by stretchers.

• Solid English Ash throughout.

• 5 bar shaped and adzed ladder backs.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Height 1090mm (3 feet 6 3/4 inches).

• Overall Width 610mm (2 feet).

• Overall Depth 530mm (1 foot 8 3/4 inches).

• Seat Height 460mm (1 foot 6 inches) [A standard height for a chair].

c. 1920

Stamped Ed Gardiner to the top of the front leg.

Very good condition with tight joints tidy rushing and original finish. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

When Ernest Gimson established his workshops at Daneway in Gloucestershire he encouraged Edward Gardiner, a local young man to take up chairmaking. Gardiner subsequently when on to make most of Gimson’s chairs to Gimson designs. After Gimson’s death he continued making the same designs, and also trained Lawrence Neal.

Ash is a straight grained and very tough timber, characterised by a wide colour range from the whites of the outer layers to the dark olive brown of the heart wood. This colour variation can be used to create a striking visual effect.

The Cotswold School was a development of the Arts and Craft Movement started largely by Ernest Gimson and the brothers Sidney and Ernest Barnsley. The furniture is instantly recognisable with its simple lines, attention to the finest of details, and use of beautiful materials. Cotswold School designs were crafted from local materials using traditional tools and techniques and with decorative details derived largely from utilitarian elements: exposed joinery, unusual panels, interesting pulls and latches crafted either from wood or from metal using traditional smithing techniques, and close attention to form as well as to wood grain and pattern. Where decorative details were added they generally took the form of traditional embellishment such as exposed joints, chamfered edges and chip carved edge details. The style was embraced and developed by other designers and craftsmen including Gordon Russell, Stanley Webb Davies in Cumbria, Sid Barnsley's son Edward, Arthur Romney Green in Hampshire, Robin Nance in St Ives and Ambrose Heal are a handful of such men out of many. The best developed their own style within the established tradition.