C F A VOYSEY

CHARLES FRANCIS ANNESLEY VOYSEY, 1857 – 1941

The celebrated architect of Littlecourt, pictured above, was a talented contempory of Edwin Lutyens.  Articled to J.P. Seddon, Voysey worked for G. Devey in 1880,but at the outset of his own career turned to decorative design while waiting for his architectural practice to gain momentum. He joined the Art Workers Guild in 1884 and exhibited with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society from 1888.

He designed the cover for the first volume of ‘The Studio’ magazine in 1896. Voysey had a great talent for pattern making and designed wallpapers for Jeffrey & Co. and Essex & Co.; textiles for Alexander Morton; tiles for Pilkington’s and later Minton’s; and carpets sold through Liberty. From the mid-1880s he experimented with furniture, much of which was made by F.C. Nielson, in a severe, distinctive, vernacular influenced manner using oak. His large table clock, with versions in plain aluminium, painted wood and polished oak, is one of his most original pieces. Hi also designed tablewares, cutlery, metalwork and lighting made by Thomas Elsley & Co. Although Voysey carried out no public architectural commissions, publication of his designs gave him an international reputation.