Designer Biography

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey

Born: 1857

Died: 1941

See items in our stock by Charles Francis Annesley Voysey

Voysey trained as an architect under John Pollard Seddon and George Devey before setting up his own practice in about 1882. 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, studyinging under A.H. Mackmurdo rather than serving a traditional apprenticeship in the studios of one of the leading textile manufacturers of the day such as Templetons or Royal Wilton.  He 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, in a severe, distinctive vernacular-influenced manner using simply constructed oiled oak. His large table clock, with versions in plain aluminium, painted wood and polished oak, is one of the most original pieces.  Cabinet makers who worked from Voysey’s designs included: F. Coote, F. C. Nielsen, B. Thallon, C.H.B Quennell, J.S. Henry and A.W. Simpson, his most dedicated disciple whose workshop continued in the Voysey style until 1952.  Voysey 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.