Regional Furniture Society Sussex Conference – 13 July 2026 to 16 July 2026 at West Dean College

February 12, 2026 by RFS

The 2026 conference will be held at West Dean College, near Chichester. Accommodation will be in single and double, en-suite student accommodation. The conference package includes an evening meal on Monday 13^th July, breakfast, lunch and dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday plus breakfast on Thursday. There will be a more formal dinner on Tuesday evening. All meals will be at West Dean College except on Wednesday when there will be a packed lunch. In the unlikely event of costs exceeding estimates, the Society may need to levy a surcharge of no more than £50 per person nearer the event.

The programme begins on Monday afternoon with a tour of the Mary Rose at Portsmouth Historic Dockyards and a talk by the Collections Manager focusing on furniture and wooden artifacts. On Tuesday we have a morning visit to the Weald and Downland Museum. In the afternoon at West Dean College, there will be a symposium exploring vernacular chairs made in Sussex and the origins of the Morris designs retailed as ‘Sussex’ chairs. Speakers at this event will be Janet Pennington, Guy Poulter and John Boram.

On Wednesday we will be on a coach tour for the day, visiting Standen, an Arts and Crafts House in East Grinstead with its original furnishings and collection of Morris Sussex chairs; Parham House, a fine Elizabethan house sensitively restored and furnished with an eclectic mix of furniture and an important textile collection; St Peter’s Church at Parham and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Warminghurst.

On Thursday there will be an opportunity in the morning to view the furniture conservation workshops at West Dean and the extensive grounds before the AGM and furniture surgery in the Old Library.

The booking form is here. Please return the form to RFS Events Team by email: events.rfs@gmail.com by March 15th 2026. You will be notified by March 30th if you have a place and payment will be required at that point.

Demi culverin from 1537 © The Mary Rose Trust

THE 48TH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OF THE FURNITURE HISTORY SOCIETY Saturday 23 March 2024, in person or live-streamed via Zoom

February 28, 2024 by RFS

Members may be interested in:

Picture credits: Chair designed by Ernest Gimson after 1888, V&A Circ.232-1960; Munstead
Wood, designed by Edwin Lutyens for Gertrude Jekyll, 1896; Lily wallpaper designed by William Morris 1873, V&A E.484-1919.

THE 48^TH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OF THE FURNITURE HISTORY SOCIETY

Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT

Saturday 23 March 2024, in person or live-streamed via Zoom. 10.30 am – 5.00 pm.

In person registration from 10.00 am

‘New Light on Arts and Crafts Furniture and Interiors’

The 2024 annual symposium will focus on Arts and Crafts furniture and interiors between about 1880 and 1920, including new research into the iconic British interiors Kelmscott Manor and Emery Walker’s House, with their rich and complex mix of furnishings, and the National Trust’s new acquisition, Gertrude Jekyll’s house Munstead Wood. In the second sessions speakers will present fresh information on individual designers and makers, on the transmission of design traditions and the influence of published photographs. The day will feature papers from an eminent panel of curators, scholars and furniture makers.

PROGRAMME

10.00-10.30am Registration and coffee/tea

10.30-10.35am Welcome by Christopher Rowell, FHS Chairman

10.35-10.40am Introduction by chair of morning: Tessa Wild – Designers and Interiors

10.40–11.05am Evidential Choreography: Recomposing the interiors at Kelmscott Manor

Dr Kathy Haslam FSA, Curator, Kelmscott Manor

11.05–11.30am Emery Walker’s House: The London Arts & Crafts Home

Mallory Horrill, Senior Curator at Emery Walker’s House, Curator of Collections & Exhibitions at the William Morris Society

11.30–11.40am Short Break

11.40am–12.05pm Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead Wood: the home of the ‘artist-gardener’

Dr Caroline Ikin, Curator, National Trust, Munstead Wood

12.05–12.30pm Evolution, not revolution. Interpreting Ernest Gimson’s designs through the generations

The Marchmont Workshop: Richard Platt & Sam Cooper, Furniture Makers

12.30–12.45pm Q & A

12.45–2.00pm LUNCH – for attendees who have booked in the Master’s Room at the Art Workers’ Guild. Otherwise various cafes/restaurants nearby.

2.00–2.05pm Introduction by chair of afternoon: Martin Levy – Designers and Makers

2.05–2.25pm The Early Years of the Art Workers’ Guild

Peyton Skipwith, Fine art consultant and author

2. 25–2.45pm BIFMO and the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society Catalogues, 1888-1916

Clarissa Ward, BIFMO 19th/early 20th Century Editor & Jo Buckrell, BIFMO Research Assistant and Researcher, Haslemere Educational Museum

2.45–3.10pm A Question of Attribution: the contemporaneous appropriation of architect designed Arts & Crafts furniture.

Tony Peart, Senior Lecturer in Illustration at the University of Cumbria

3.10–3.25pm SHORT BREAK

3.25–3.50pm Augustus H. Mason: ‘Cabinet Maker, chiefly special designs’

Annette Carruthers, Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of St Andrews

3.50–4.15pm ‘Garden of Hearts: A Case Study of an American Arts and Crafts Masterpiece’

Daniel S. Sousa, Assistant Curator, Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts, USA

4.15–4.45pm Q & A

4.45–5.00pm Closing remarks/summing up

5.00pm End

Tickets available via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/new-light-on-arts-and-crafts-furniture-and-interiors-tickets-788035073117

Call for papers by 15 April 2024 for Symposium 6 & 7 June 2024 at University of Leeds – What is furniture history?

February 20, 2024 by RFS

Special Collections at University of Leeds Libraries & Leeds Museums & Galleries

CALL FOR PAPERS

What is Furniture History?

Thursday 6^th June – Friday 7^th June 2024

University of Leeds (& online)

Henry Lawford *The cabinet of practical, useful and decorative furniture designs* (1855). Image copyright, the University of Leeds Libraries

The history of furniture remains one of the dominant areas of interest within the history of the so-called ‘Decorative Arts’. Since it emerged in the 19^th century, scholarship focused on furniture history has expanded far beyond the interests of its earlier pioneers, transforming furniture history as a discipline. This 2-day symposium, developed as part of the exhibition ‘Part of the Furniture: The Library of John Bedford’ (Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, University of Leeds, 9^th January-21^st December 2024), and in collaboration with Temple Newsam, Leeds, seeks to explore furniture history as a subject and to reflect on what furniture history of the future might look like.

We invite submissions for papers on themes related to the history of furniture, focused on any period, any geography, from scholars, museum professionals, collectors, dealers, and furniture makers. We invite papers through any lens, including methodological papers on furniture history as method/approach, case studies on objects and collections, papers on furniture historians, as well as work-in-progress papers on possible futures for furniture history.

Contributions might address (not exhaustive):

The history of furniture history

Furniture historians

Publications of furniture history

The sources and materials of furniture history

Furniture collections in museum/historic houses

Collectors and collecting furniture

Studies of individual examples of furniture

Studies of types of furniture

Furniture dealers; the market for furniture

Societies and communities of furniture enthusiasts

The themes of furniture history (style, biography, material, geography etc)

Furniture history of the future

Papers should be 20 minutes in length; participation can be in-person or online (Microsoft TEAMS).

The symposium programme will include facilitated tours at Temple Newsam (part of Leeds Museums & Galleries) to explore the world class furniture collections at the house. As well as an opportunity to see extra materials from the collection of John Bedford at the University.

DEADLINE for submission for proposals (c.200 words) is – MONDAY 15^th April 2024 to (m.w.westgarth@leeds.ac.uk). Successful speakers will be notified by FRIDAY 26^th April 2024.

Speakers – Free

Conference delegates (in person) £25 per person (2 days) £15 per person (1 day), includes refreshments and lunch and transport to Temple Newsam. Online delegates – Free.

NB: The RFS is pleased to support the costs of attending the What is Furniture History conference in person, for five early career professionals in the field or students (part- or full-time). This special event bursary will cover the ticket fee (£25 two days/£15 one day) and UK travel costs (standard class rail or reasonable alternative) but not overnight accommodation. The bursary is open to existing or new RFS members. Non-members, please note: RFS annual membership costs only £28 by banker’s order (£20 for students) and includes numerous benefits, almost certainly much less than the cost of attending the conference without a bursary, so this may be a perfect opportunity to join the RFS.

Applicants should email the Grants and Bursaries Secretary Nick Humphrey nickhu@vam.ac.uk providing details of your early career professional post or course of study, and the attendance and travel costs you wish to claim. Successful applicants will be required to provide receipts for reimbursement. Applications will be dealt with on a First Come, First Served basis.