Chippendale Society Chippendale Society The Chippendale Society is a registered charity in Britain, that works to preserve and promote the heritage of Thomas Chippendale, one of Britain's most notable furniture makers. The society was founded in 1965 in Otley in Yorkshire, England, Chippendale's home town. Its mission is to advance public education in the matter of British craftsmanship, specifically Georgian, and particularly that of Thomas Chippendale whose designs and methods are still employed today. The society, governed by a board of twelve trustees, owns a collection of Chippendale furniture and memorabilia, which is kept at Temple Newsam House in Leeds, and has
Metamorphic library steps ceilings and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. The topmost shelves were difficult to reach, so movable library steps or library stairs were created as a form of domestic furniture. During the second half of the 18th century a succession of talented German-born cabinet-makers passed through the French courts. Jean-François Oeben, Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen had successively introduced the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI to a wide range of finely made and exquisitely finished mechanical furniture. The ingenuity of these cabinet-makers, especially David Roentgen who became master cabinet-maker to Marie Antoinette, led to a fascination for "meubles à surprises" ('surprise furniture').