Chairs by John Warrender and William Cole

The Clissett family included many chairmakers - probably around seventeen in all.

While the work of most of them remains obscure, we have stamped examples from Philip Clissett's uncle, John Warrender (Warander), and his brother in-law, William Cole. I've now put up a page showing examples of their work - all the models that I'm aware of.

It's immediately striking how similar, if not identical, their work is to Philip's. The notable exception is the Warrender armchair which is an intriguing mix of similarities and differences. Most importantly, though, it raises questions about the supposed origin of the Clissett ladderback design.

It has been suggested that the ladderback design was introduced to Clissett by James MacLaren who must have seen chairs by Kerry of Evesham which had similarly-shaped rungs. But here we see the same rungs right there within the Clissett family, and pre-dating Philip's career as a chairmaker.

Do check out the Warrender and Cole chairs, and let me know if there are any I've missed.

*Since writing this, a William Cole armchair has come to light (see the blog entry for 3 March 2015). It's raising more questions in my mind about the relationships between these three chairmakers.  In addition, a Philip Clissett timber-seated ladderback has been found, and it has slats which are tantalisingly similar to those on the Warrender armchair illustrated above (see blog entry for 6 February 2016).

---