George Hepplewhite designs and variants of them through the 19th and 20th centuries. George Hepplewhite George Hepplewhite (1727? – 21 June 1786) was a cabinetmaker. He is regarded as having been one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale. There are no pieces of furniture made by Hepplewhite or his firm known to exist but he gave his name to a distinctive style of light, elegant furniture that was fashionable between about 1775 and 1800 and reproductions of his designs continued through the following centuries. One characteristic that is seen in
European hand fans in the 18th century century. During this time the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers tried to grow the English fan trade, but their success was small in comparison to the French industry. There were two main types of fans seen in Europe during the 18th century: the rigid (or fixed) fan and the folding fan. As its name implies, the rigid fan is stiff. Possible fan shapes are a leaf, a rectangle, or an oval. The fan is attached to a base where it is held. The folding fan was the most popular in Europe during the 18th century, a time known as the