Form, Fashion, Function: A Concise History of Furniture

SHORT COURSE: Explore the fascinating history of European furniture, using objects, resources and expertise featured in the V&A’s new furniture gallery.

This is the only gallery in the world that is devoted to a comprehensive display of furniture from 1500 to the present day, as well as the materials and techniques used to make it. This course will examine core techniques including joinery, veneering, marquetry and inlay, upholstery and gilding, as well as the work of key makers such as Roentgen, Boulle, Chippendale, Pugin, Thonet, Frank Lloyd Wright, Eileen Gray, Alvar Aalto and Charles Eames. It will also explore the different forms and functions of furniture, from Renaissance buffets to 1960s conversation pits and the ways in which they have reflected people’s status, pre-occupations and lifestyles. Sessions are led by furniture historians and V&A curators involved in the new galleries, and include close-up investigation of individual objects and materials.

Thursdays, 24 January – 21 March 2013 (Half Term: 21 February), 10:30am - 1:00pm.