Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (1718 – 1779) was born in Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in June 1718. He became a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs, titled "The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director", upon which success he became renowned. The designs are regarded as reflecting the current British fashion for furniture of that period and are today reproduced globally. He was buried 16 November 1779, according to the records of St Martin-in-the-Fields, in the cemetery since built upon by the
Swietenia mahagoni said to have been interested in samples of mahogany brought by Sir Walter Raleigh on his return from Trinidad in 1595. Mahogany was little used in English furniture making until the 18th century, as domestic oak and walnut were the predominant woods used. The first use of "S. mahagoni" in the United Kingdom for cabinet work was in 1724. Mahogany became the essential material that led to the golden age of British furniture-making in the 18th century, which Percy Macquoid, a connoisseur of English furniture, calls the "Age of Mahogany". Furniture makers have used the wood more or less continuously