A celebration of the acclaimed Ernest Gimson

Bonhams is to sponsor a study day at Marchmont House celebrating the life and work of the designer and furniture maker Ernest Gimson.

The event Ernest Gimson and the art, craft and business of furniture design takes place in Berwickshire on Saturday 12 May and costs £85.

Ernest Gimson (1864-1919) was a central figure in the British Arts and Crafts Movement and a model for many designer-cabinetmakers up to the present day.

Described by the famous art and architecture historian Nikolaus Pevsner in successive editions of Pioneers of the Modern Movement as ‘the greatest artist among them’, Gimson is probably best known for his furniture.

He was, however, something of a Renaissance man. and practiced as an architect, a maker of plasterwork and turned chairs, and a designer of bookbindings.

Bonhams managing director in Scotland Charles Campbell-Graham said: ‘Ernest Gimson was a highly significant figure in the history of British furniture making and design whose influence is still being to this day, and Bonhams is delighted to be sponsoring this important event dedicated to his life and work.’

The study day includes an opportunity to examine in close detail the numerous superb pieces by Gimson and his contemporaries and admirers in Marchmont House, which is often described as having the finest interior of any house in Scotland.

It will explore his life and work, the context from which his career developed, and a variety of ways in which the Gimson tradition has extended into the 21st century.

Speakers will include Annette Carruthers, Mary Greensted and Barley Roscoe, whose book marking the centenary of Gimson’s death will be published by Yale University Press later in the year.

Hugo Burge, director, Marchmont Farms Limited, added: ‘This is an event which should stir the curiosity of anyone interested in the best of British & Scottish design during the arts and crafts movement and – indeed – today, as amazing Scottish makers continue his traditions. Ernest Gimson is an inspiration to us all and has become a core part of the story of Marchmont House.

‘The Arts & Crafts movement – of which Gimson, who was inspired directly through a friendship with William Morris, was a leading light – was a reaction against the Industrial Revolution and the values of this movement today are resurgent in the face of the convulsive changes associated with the Digital Revolution that we are experiencing.’

The event has been brought together and organised by Annette Carruthers, in partnership with Hugo Burge, as a director of Marchmont Farms Limited.

A dinner will be held on Saturday evening at an addition cost of £40. Overnight accommodation is available by separate arrangement.

Click HERE for tickets.

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