The Decorative Designs of C.F.A. Voysey

The Decorative Design of C.F.A. Voysey is the first book to place Voysey in his times. His was a dynamic age; ‘Our descendants will envy the dawn through which we are passing’, wrote a contemporary. Voysey’s houses appealed to a forward-looking generation of intellectuals – writers and artists.

Voysey learned architecture was an art from the Gothic Revival architect John Pollard Seddon – a friend and patron of the Pre-Raphaelites. Besides architecture, Seddon taught him decorative design. Voysey became one of the most successful textile designers of his generation. After Seddon, Voysey worked for Henry Saxon Snell, the leading hospital designer. Fresh air and light were essential for healthy living science dictated. Voysey’s third mentor was George Devey, the leading designer of large country houses. Devey appreciated plain rural architecture. Voysey’s buildings possess the modesty of the village house.

Sixty-four of the two-hundred and eight decorative designs by Voysey in the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects are reproduced here. Once housed in two chests he had designed in his flat in 73 St James’s Street, off Piccadilly – where he lived in genteel poverty – they were never intended for posterity. They enable us to feel his presence and know something of his way of working and his extraordinary imagination.

Author Biography

Stuart Durant is an Honorary Member of the Voysey Society – for whom he gave the second Annual Voysey Lecture. He was invited to write the first History of Design thesis at the Royal College of Art. He later taught Design and Architectural History at Kingston University, where he became Reader. He has also directed the Post Graduate course in Communication Design at Kingston. He was the originator of the International Design Yearbook, and he has published extensively on ornament and architecture. Stuart Durant’s writings have been widely translated.