Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect

Product Information

Gimson designed many buildings in the UK, with the two most notable being his first new house commission, Inglewood in Leicester, and the National Trust property in Leicestershire called Stoneywell. Both are now Grade II* Listed in recognition of their architectural importance. [7] [8] His architectural commissions include: In 1900, Gimson and Ernest Barnsley went into partnership setting up a second workshop and employing cabinet makers including Peter Waals to make up their furniture designs. Gimson took sole control of the business from about 1903; after the move to Sapperton he opened showrooms at Daneway House and a workshop in the outbuildings. He also set up a smithy in Sapperton and with Edward Gardiner a chair making business at Daneway.

The house is set in a small garden area that emphasises the wild surroundings and the trees of Charnwood Forest. Mr Gimson gave us tea in The Nuns' Walk, and the Barnsleys and he came to supper. Very jolly evening. Enjoyed it very much. Mr G. ridiculous. He was very funny and teasing.Interconnecting sitting/study area/occasional bedroom with leaded window to the front elevation and exposed beams.

Leicester, London, Pinbury & Sapperton, Gloucestershire; architect, chair maker, furniture designer and workshop owner (b.1864-d.1919)The Sapperton workshop was closed after Gimson's death, but many of the craftsmen went with Peter van der Waals to his new premises in Chalford.

Dining room, feature deep original fireplace recess, Porcelanosa marble tiled flooring, heavily beamed ceiling. Two years later, aged 21, Gimson had both architectural experience and a first class result from classes at Leicester School of Art. He moved to London to gain wider experience, and William Morris wrote him letters of recommendation. The first architectural practice he approached was John Dando Sedding, where he was taken on, and stayed for two years. [4] From Sedding, Gimson derived his interest in craft techniques, the stress on textures and surfaces, naturalistic detail of flowers, leaves and animals, always drawn from life, the close involvement of the architect in the simple processes of building and in the supervision of a team of craftsmen employed direct. Seddings offices were next door to the showrooms of Morris & Co., providing opportunity to see first hand the first flourishing of Arts and Crafts design. He met Ernest Barnsley at Sedding's studio, and through him, Sidney Barnsley, a friendship that was to last the rest of his life. [5] The architect’s layout of streets, public spaces, and important buildings, meanwhile, shows the influence of the aesthetic principles of the Austrian urbanist Camillo Sitte, now unjustly neglected since being contemptuously derided by Le Corbusier and other leading modernists. Lambourne, Lionel. 'The art and craft of Ernest Gimson'. Country Life vol. 146, 7 August 1969 pp. 338-339 Other attractions include the local reservoirs at Cropston and Swithland, with golf at Rothley and The Beacon.

Popular Artists

His architectural style is "solid and lasting as the pyramids… yet gracious and homelike" (H. Wilson, 1899). Lethaby described him as an idealist individualist: "Work not words, things not designs, life not rewards were his aims." Norman Jewson was his foremost student, who carried his design principles into the next generation and described his studio practices in his classic memoir By Chance I did Rove (1951). Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North East of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2013 At about the same time the firm also cast two bridges, at Upperton Road and Mill Lane, over the Grand Union Canal.