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Profiles

  • Thomas Seymour (1771 - 1848)
    Thomas Seymour Find A Grave Memorial ID # 174554501 Luxury and Innovation: Furniture Masterworks by John and Thomas Seymour The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour book by Robert ...
  • George Washington "Wash" Corley (1883 - 1951)
    Obituary
  • Royce Daniel Boone, Sr. (1924 - 2017)
    Royce D. Boone, 92, entered into his heavenly home on September 14, 2017 at his home in Evans, GA. Interment will follow in Westover Memorial Park. Mr. Boone was born in Burnsville, North Carolina, the...
  • Jacob Rudolph Clodfelter, Sr. (1770 - 1837)
    Jacob Rudolph Clodfelter Find A Grave Memorial ID # 8870483 His body was interred in February 1837 at Davidson County, North Carolina in the Bethany UCC Church Cemetery near the Forsyth and Davids...
  • Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113697684/albert-h-gaede
    Jesse Clodfelter (1804 - 1870)
    Jesse Clodfelter Master Cabinetmaker & Gravestone Craver Find A Grave Memorial ID # 62337576 Jesse Clodfelter Biography, NCpedia Signed Jesse Clodfelter (Davidson County, North Carolina, 18...

Add professional cabinetmakers and furniture makers to this project. You can visit HistoryLink to find out which projects include your ancestors.

History

Before the advent of industrial design, cabinet makers were responsible for the conception and the production of any piece of furniture. In the last half of the 18th century, cabinet makers, such as Thomas Sheraton, Thomas Chippendale, Shaver and Wormley Bros. Cabinet Constructors, and George Hepplewhite, also published books of furniture forms. These books were compendiums of their designs and those of other cabinet makers.

With the industrial revolution and the application of steam power to cabinet making tools, mass production techniques were gradually applied to nearly all aspects of cabinet making, and the traditional cabinet shop ceased to be the main source of furniture, domestic or commercial. In parallel to this evolution there came a growing demand by the rising middle class in most industrialised countries for finely made furniture. This eventually resulted in a growth in the total number of traditional cabinet makers.

Before 1650, fine furniture was a rarity in Western Europe and North America. Generally, people did not need it and for the most part could not afford it. They made do with simple but serviceable pieces.

The arts and craft movement which started in the United Kingdom in the middle of the 19th century spurred a market for traditional cabinet making, and other craft goods. It rapidly spread to the United States and to all the countries in the British Empire. This movement exemplified the reaction to the eclectic historicism of the Victorian era and to the 'soulless' machine-made production which was starting to become widespread.

After World War II woodworking became a popular hobby among the middle classes. The more serious and skilled amateurs in this field now turn out pieces of furniture which rival the work of professional cabinet makers. Together, their work now represents but a small percentage of furniture production in any industrial country, but their numbers are vastly greater than those of their counterparts in the 18th century and before.

Source: Cabinetry:History at Wikipedia

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