Cabinetmakers & Paint, Burwash Manor, Cambridge, England
Just read an interview with a typographer named Cyrus Highsmith. He a designer based in Boston and a teacher at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Some pages of his sketch books are up on the web. Have a look. They’re loose and easy in style, interesting and – I think – inspiring.
p.s. …love the name Cyrus.
Maybe today has been just a little too gray and rainy, because I found myself browsing through some pictures of our trip to the U.S. last summer. We had lots of beach and sunshine and we visited the Hancock Shaker Village.
It’s a very beautiful, and peaceful place.
There was a bedroom where they used paint analysis to discover the original colours used. All of the wood in this room had been painted in reds, blues and fantastic yellow from the floor through to the skirting and window frames.
Of course the Shakers used peg rails every where. This one was tucked into a little hallway and had was painted with the same colour as the wall. It had a 100 year+ burnished patina of the linseed oil that was probably used to protect the casein based paint that was commonly used during this period. The colour was a beautiful soft blue/grey.
Hancock Shaker Village Shaker peg rail
Earlier this year when we were in Providence, R.I. we spotted a great bumper sticker stuck to a wall in our favorite bar, The Decatur – on Carpenter Street.
We went to the website, to order an I Heart Providence, bumper sticker. Because we were leaving the States for England very soon we went the the person’s office to pick up not 1 but 3 bumper stickers. The envelope had a card in it from Seth Price who wrote that he enjoys life in Providence. Seth has set up a website where you can order the bumper sticker and that also includes of links to arts, entertainment and a blog (to date) featuring culinary exploits around Providence. The website is lovely and well worth a visit.
The back of the bumper sticker has 3 definitions of prov-i-dence n.
Here they are (from Seth Price):
1. The capital and largest city in Rhode Island; located in northeastern Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay was founded by Roger Williams in 1636 as a haven for religious freedom. Today it is one of the most important intellectual and artistic centers in the United States.
2. The guardianship and control exercised by a deity; “divine providence”.
3. The English word Providence is derived from the Latin term providentia, which primarily means foresight or foreknowledge but also forethought and Providence in the religious sense; thus Cicero used the phrase the “Providence of the gods” (deorum providentia). The Stoic philosophers thoroughly discussed the significance of the term Providence, and some of them wrote treatises on the subject. A hymn to Zeus written about 300 BC by Cleanthes, a Greek poet and philosopher, is a glorification of the god as a benevolent and foreseeing ruler of the world and mankind. According to Cleanthes, God had planned the world in accordance with this Providence.
In the early ‘90’s Tim and I named our business Providence, because we felt the word reflected the New England and Shaker style cabinetry and philosophy that we wanted to reproduce here in the Cambridge, England. I think that we also wanted a reminder of this fantastic (see definition no.1) city, (where we met and I grew up). Thanks Seth, I Heart Providence too.
This is the place where we will post updates and news about out shop at Barton and our workshop in Cambridge.
We will also include technical info on cabinet making and paint & other decorating and finishing supplies and finishing techniques.
Our first blog! Welcome.
