6 Acornman (Ex-Mouseman) Arts & Crafts Cotswold School English Oak Chairs 1990

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Approximate dimensions:

• overall height 81 cm (2 feet 7 and three quarters inches)
• overall width 43 cm (1 foot 4 and three quarters inches)
• seat height 46 cm (1 foot 6 inches) (more or less the standard height for a chair)
• overall depth 43 cm (1 foot 5 inches)

1990

Alan Grainger's inset finely carved signature acorn motif on each chair

Very good clean sound condition with tight joints and sound finish. Some very minor fading and colour variation, light marks some of the seat pads and inconspicuous repaired split to the back of one chair (not significantly affecting its appearance or strength). 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

Alan 'Acornman' Grainger (Ex-Mouseman): Acorn Industries was started by George Grainger, a former Robert "Mouseman' Thompson craftsman, in the mid-30s. He trained his son Alan (and Derek 'Lizardman' Slater) who then took over and developed the business. Renowned for high quality pieces, all hand made, usually from English oak and bearing the acorn mark

English Oak: The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength

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

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