Samuel Johnson Chair, c. 1730

We were asked to find a suitable leather to reupholster a c.1730 chair owned by the great 18th century English man of letters, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).  

The Danish Brigatine, Metta Catherina was carrying a cargo that included tanned reindeer hides from St. Petersburg to Genoa when it sunk off the Cornish Coast in 1786.  She lay almost completely buried in a deep bed of silt off Mount Edgcumbe until she was discovered by divers in 1973.  A team of divers recorded and excavated the wreck over the next 32 years.  We were fortunate enough to find enough of this leather to handle the reupholstery.  

The chair as it appeared in a Christie's catalogue, 1928.  

Completed Samuel Johnson chair with c.1786 leather

Arts & Crafts Oak Table with Tooled Leather Top

When we found this Arts & Crafts Oak Table in the Adirondacks, only remnants of the original leather were left.  We added a new hand-colored leather top, and hand-tooled a Candace Wheeler carp on the top to give it a little more character.

Detail of Tooled Leather Top

Another Detail of Tooled Leather Top

Hand-stitched Arm Chair

Jacques Adnet Arm Chair we completely hand-stitched using English Saddle leather.

Tooling Rose Valley

I was lucky enough to be asked to recreate the tooled back on this very special Rose Valley Arm Chair.

We started by going through the original images and records at the Antheneum of Philadelphia.  The Antheneum is one of the great institutions in Philadelphia and America for history and antiquities.  Based on matching the grain patterns on the chair with the chairs in the original photographs, we were able to find images of the exact chair, from the Main Hall of the John O. Gilmore House, 1901.  The tooled panel was visible, but only faintly.

We also found images of what looks like the same acanthus pattern on another chair that had much greater detail.  

Using these two sources, I drew the basic pattern full scale on graph paper.

I transfered the pattern to a thick natural leather and carved the basic outlines

I then started working the edges and creating the background pattern.

After completing the background, I started on the detail work.  

After many layers of color, I get close to the color I want to use.

The next part is the MOST important.  Cutting the back pattern to fit the chair.  If you miscalculate the cutting, there is no way to fix it --you would have to start over.  Measure 3 or 4 times, and cut once.  

  Because we had period images of the chair, we were able to locate the original holes for the nailheads.  Using templates, we aligned the nailheads back into their original configuration.