THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT 



84. A FOLDING WALNUT TABLE. 



the same school of design as the oak chest of Mr. 

 Gimson, and the same things can be said for and 

 against it. Its motif is the chamfer to be found on 

 the country waggon, and its inspiration the art of the 

 peasant. It would be pleasant to live with if it could 

 be found as part of the furniture of one of the 

 delightful stone-built houses Mi. Barnslcy knows so 

 well how to build ; but it must be made by hand, and 

 the machine can play no part in its manufacture. It 

 is, therefore, an aggravating piece of furniture, because 

 it seems to mock at the industrial system. If settles 

 could talk it would say : &quot; Here I am, and know not 

 the meaning of compromise ; I must be made as once 

 all settles were made ; if you attempt to standardise 

 my parts and make me by machinery, I shall at once 

 become so hideously 

 ugly that you will be 

 appalled. I a in 

 human in that men 



have made me.&quot; \Yhich is all very interesting, but does not solve the 



problem of how the twentieth century is going to wed Utility, being 



the machine, to Beauty, being the craftsman. So we get no 



&quot; forrarder,&quot; but, nevertheless, we like the settle. 



The turned ash chair (Fig. (S3), is quite admirable and of a sort 



to be commended to anyone wanting a cheap chair, for it is a far finer 



thing than any reproduction of Louis This or Louis That or a sort of 



hotch-potch of Chippendale, Sheraton and Hepplewhite. It is surely 



much better to eschew such vanities, if economy is essential, and 



to furnish the home with furniture on the lines of this chair 



designed by Mr. Gimson, which looks what it really is a very beautiful 



and simple bit of craftsmanship, on good lines and withal honest. 



The &quot; Dryad &quot; chair (Fig. 85) is the practical outcome of a class 



started at the 

 Leicester School of 

 Art, to train workmen 

 to design as well as 

 to make. The possi 

 bilities of the idea 



are endless and may contain the solution of the 

 problem mentioned in a preceding paragraph, and if 

 cane furniture can be produced on these lines, why not 

 other sorts ? The abuse of machinery must lead in 

 the long run to the extinction of the craftsman as 

 such, and the substitution instead of a mere machine- 

 tender, dull of spirit and hopeless. The chair illustrated 

 is to be commended as one showing appreciation of 

 the material in which it is made, which the design 

 admirably suits, and is, in addition, a graceful piece 

 of work. 



The folding table made in English walnut (Fig. 8-j) 

 is also from the design of Ernest W. Gimson. It is a 

 thousand pities that English walnut is not more used. 

 The wood is of great beauty, with markings varying 

 from grey-brown to tawny yellow, and capable of being 

 highly finished as in the case of this table. It is 

 admirably designed and constructed with numberless 

 little refinements of softened arrises which are not at 

 first apparent. 



The Italian walnut secretaire illustrated in Fig. 86, 

 and inlaid with various woods, was designed by W. 

 A. S. Benson. It is a well-proportioned piece made on 



8.5. -A 



DRYAD 



CHAIR. 



86 A WALNUT SECRETAIRE 



