NEO-CLASSIS

Hi, my name is Paul Boyd and I make "Neo- Classics".

I was working at a shop in Staunton, Va. back in the Eighties. We were building a pair of mahogany dressers for the boss and his wife and he must have been bragging on the fine quality furnishings being produced by his company. One day I'm hand dovetailing all these drawers together when this guy comes in, walks over to me and says "You must be the joiner...". It was the highest compliment he could have given me. I'm very proud to ba a "joiner" of wood.

I had served my apprenticeship at the Biggs Company of Richmond, Virginia back in the late seventies. It was a crash course in formal furniture production where everything was made of mahogany and fell into one of three categories: Queen Anne, Chippendale, or Hepplewhite. The look of the "Hepplewhite" pieces must have made a lasting impression on me because today this has become my passion.
I learned years later of the history behind the furniture and where and how each style originated.

There were three significant British furniture designers of the eighteenth century: Thomas Chippendale, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton. Chippendale was "old school" from the rococo period; lots of heavily carved pieces, ball and claw feet, a little too ornate for my taste. But there was a distinct paradigm shift in tastes between Chippendale and the other two.

This change was partially inspired by the rediscovery of the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum in the late 1740's. By the 1760's there was a wide resurgence in Roman Architecture characteristic of this "Neo" Classical Period. It was all the rage. Late eighteenth century furniture designers like Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Hope and Shearer incorporated these classical elements and the result was a more refined, linear, geometric look.

Here in the newly formed United States there was a lot of "new money" in a society craving furnishings in the latest styles. Furniture makers were commissioned to build pieces from the British designers by this new aristocracy. Cabinetmakers such as John Townsend, John Shaw, and Samuel McIntyre interpreted Hepplewhite and Sheraton's designs to create pieces that today are priceless and probably in museums.

One of the first pieces I attempted was a dressing glass (or shaving mirror) from the Kauffman collection by Samuel McIntyre. I thought it was beautiful, an oval case with shield- shaped mirror above adorned with all this herringbone inlay. Come to find out this McIntyre fellow was also intrigued with the British designs. He built a chair based on plate #33 from the Sheraton book. I flatter myself to be considered a modern day McIntyre. I just hope that Mr. Sheraton is looking over me and giving his blessing.