About Jack Metcalfe
I specialise in 18th century English marquetry decorated furniture as designed by Thomas Chippendale, plus other selected London based furniture makers. My knowledge and skills of the original marquetry team’s production techniques remains well documented.
Having received an eight-year apprenticeship at the age of 50 from my late Uncle-in-law, Tommy Limmer in 1990, led to me teaching the craft at both Leeds College of Art & Design and York College, which lasted over eight years.
Following teaching, I turned to researching, writing & Publishing and lecturing on Chippendale’s marquetry. This eventually led to international recognition in 2007 when I was invited to lecture at an international marquetry symposium held in Vadstenna, Sweden. There I met Dr Heinrich Piening, who had recently discovered and invented a method of detecting dyestuffs used to colour veneers on antique marquetry furniture without damaging the integrity of the work. This meeting forged a lasting working relationship that still exists today. All my Chippendale replica marquetry work displays proven evidence provided by Heinrich’s initial dye colour testing on the original pieces.
Finding & Naming Thomas Chippendale’s Marquetry Team
Published February 2022, the book reveals what is perhaps the greatest marquetry discovery of the 18th century. The findings take you into the world of furniture design and construction in central London during 1760 & 1770. What makes the discovery so unique, is that for the first time ever those talented and enigmatic practitioners who performed all the hands-on technical aspects of marquetry and brass mount decorated furniture, are not just identified by their hands-on skills, but by their nationality, and yes, their signed names.
Join me on this fascinating journey along St Martins Lane and Tottenham Court Road as I examine some furniture designer’s marquetry work, not just within the capitol city, but in Paris too. My in-depth knowledge of applied marquetry of the period allowed me to discover an inlayer, an engraver, and a brass mount maker, who, between them, began creating Thomas Chippendale’s marquetry and brass-work designs.
I also reveal details of my unique 8-year marquetry apprenticeship at the age of fifty.
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Finding & Naming Thomas Chippendale’s Marquetry Team
Get your copy of Jack’s latest book, the culmination of over 10 years dedication! Your local suppliers can be found by clicking on your country’s flag below.
Jack Metcalfe examines the contents of Thomas Chippendale’s ground-breaking Director, first published in 1754, that originally established the ‘Chippendale brand’. This led Jack to uncovering the links with a fellow neighbouring furniture maker, Pierre Langlois, operating only a mile from Chippendale’s workshop and whose marquetry designs echoed many motifs found within the Director. In this book, Jack explores the possible union between the two furniture makers. This allowed Jack to further identify and reveal the marquetry team, both by name and nationality, who had performed all the marquetry work on Chippendale’s own commissions that were to follow. In addition, Jack examines the role of the man who cast all the brass mounts attached to Chippendale’s marquetry commissions.
