English Arts and Crafts Furniture by Nancy Hiller

I am haunted by the Voysey chair. No matter that quite a bit of time has passed since I first read this book, I continually find myself breaking off cattail rush when I visit the park. These are twisted on my walk and serve as a reminder in the car that I really want to get around to building this chair.

One of three projects in the book, that chair is a exemplar of Arts and Crafts furniture and joins other (more complicated projects) to give you three great pieces of furniture to build.

But the book is so much more than a furniture “project book” – I feel like Nancy has avoided all the tropes and built a book that shows a honest wide ranging set of examples that give some idea of the extent of the style. The history is fascinating and interwoven into the text and I like the way the entire book has been structured around Ruskin and the nature of gothic.

If you have any interest in this style at all the book is one I feel you must add to your library.