Arts and Crafts Mahogany Stick Stand by Shapland & Petter Ltd

Cabinets & Storage

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A fine quality solid mahogany stick stand by Shapland & Petter Ltd of Barnstaple, North Devon.

The recessed panelled and shaped back is inset with a thistle repoussé decorated (the design hammered or pressed from the reverse) copper panel above a frame with shaped square section supports for sticks and umbrellas. A further beaten copper panel below, raised on square feet. Original removable tin drip tray.

An interesting brass plaque is attached to the reverse, inscribed: “Société Suisse D’Ameublements  Maison de la Place St-François, 5  Lausanne”. This retailer, with premises also in Zurich, Berne and Montreux was advertising fashionable Art Nouveau furniture in the 1910s. 5 Place St-François, built in 1913, remains a grand and prestigious commercial property in the heart of Lausanne.

This design was also available in oak, bearing catalogue number R 1415 139.

Circa 1910.

Dimensions:

Height: 105 cm (41.5 inches)

Width: 56 cm (22 inches)

Depth: 26.5 cm (10.5 inches)

Please enquire for delivery cost.

Henry Shapland was born in Barnstaple in 1823. He completed his apprenticeship with a local cabinet maker before moving to London until 1847, when he married a Barnstaple lady and they set sail for America. Whilst there, he saw a newly invented German machine producing finely carved mouldings on curved surfaces and, returning to Devon, he set up in business manufacturing mouldings, having recreated the machine that he had seen in America. 

In 1854 Shapland and Henry Petter (born circa 1827), another Barnstaple man who had returned from London where he had been working in publishing, founded Shapland and Petter. With the benefit of Shapland’s machine and later inventions speeding up cabinet and chair making via a production line, together with Petter’s contacts and business acumen, the firm expanded to produce furniture as well as mouldings. They sold to the public and wholesale to the trade. In 1864 Shapland and Petter bought the Raleigh Mill on the outskirts of the town and converted it wholly to furniture production. 

 In 1887 Henry Shapland Snr and Henry Petter Snr retired, and the firm continued under the management of their sons. A fire in 1888 destroyed the firm’s premises, creating an opportunity to purpose build a new and modern factory at Bridge Wharf on the River Taw, near the centre of Barnstaple. 

In 1891, the firm took “commodious showrooms” at 3 St Andrew Street, Holborn Circus, London, where they displayed a selection of cabinet furniture, and from about 1893, they sold directly to customers at their shop in Berners Street, London. They also supplied Liberty & Co, Waring & Gillow, Wylie & Lochhead in Glasgow and Christopher Pratt’s of Bradford. By 1900 Shapland & Petter were employing 400 people in Barnstaple.

Although they employed craftsmen and much of their output was Arts and Crafts in design, the firm remained keen to adopt the most up to date machinery and were rated as one of the leading companies in the mechanisation of furniture making. Renowned for excellent design and workmanship, their Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau influenced furniture remains best known and prized today.