One of the most influential Arts & Crafts designers and architects, C.F.A. Voysey is renowned for his textiles, carpets, and wallpaper designs. As a designer Voysey paid meticulous attention to detail, designing every aspect of a project whether architectural or an integral design.
Voysey’s preferred material for furniture was unstained and unpolished oak. He did however specify other materials when he felt them appropriate, particularly if the other furniture in the house was of a differing material or when requested to by a client. He reiterated this to Arthur Simpson of Kendal in 1909 stating that “You must have oak everywhere or nowhere. I will not be a party to the mixture.”
His fabric designs were typically produced on standard graph paper and were used for setting up steam-driven looms. Each minute square on the paper represented a single carpet tuft. Specific grids were required for different machinery and weaves. For example, the leading Kidderminster carpet manufacturer Tomkinson & Adam, for whom Voysey produced numerous designs, used American looms. The design sequence would have been transferred to a series of punched cards by a technician, who would use strands of different coloured wools to realise the products.
The designs produced, which are so charming and vivid in their colours, serve as important interpretation tools for the technicians to bring the designs to life, direct from the master’s hand. To ensure the end-products remained true to his original intent, Voysey often made annotations instructing the weavers on the repeat and colouring of the design.