Patterns: The Printed Image and a Century of Colonial-Made Furniture

Dr William Cottrell is an art historian specialising in colonial furniture, and the award-winning author of Furniture of the New Zealand Colonial Era (1830-1900) in 2006.

He said that new research now reveals a formerly unrecognised art history of material culture. His presentation examined the influence of printed patterns over one hundred years of colonial furniture design. He discussed three aspects of pattern production that influenced colonial domestic furniture design; the designer, the manufacturer’s trade catalogue and the publisher’s subscription magazine.