Sometimes you come across pieces that demonstrate the close links between the best known Arts and Crafts designers and makers. This beautifully crafted stationery cabinet is a great example of how the best all worked together.
The stationery cabinet is attributed to Arthur W. Simpson. Simpson was born in 1857 in Cumbria. A talented carver from a young age he was apprenticed to Gillow’s of Lancaster. After gaining some experience with a number of firms he returned to Kendal to set up his own workshops.
The move towards the Arts and Crafts style came in 1889 when a piece by Simpson was exhibited at the Arts and Crafts Society Exhibition in London. For the next decade Simpson was heavily influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. During this period he set up “The Handicrafts” workshops in Windermere. He was a well known figure within the movement and became friends with John Ruskin, C.F.A. Voysey, Richard Llewellyn Rathbone, Thomas Mawson, Harold Stabler amongst others. The Keswick School of Industrial Arts also featured in exhibitions he held. Simpson went on the make furniture for C.F.A Voysey and M.H. Baillie Scott.
This piece probably dates to around 1905. A very similar stationery cabinet was illustrated in The Studio in 1909, Vol 45.