Carved With Love BBC Four

[jimi43]

Starting the 10th of January on BBC Four...a programme which may be of interest to us woodies....

Digiguide Information HERE

If it's BBC Four it's bound to be good!

Jim

 

[Richard T]

Aha - yes indeed Jim; looks promising.

Emma told me she saw the trailer for it last night - Ooo oo oo .... (counts chisels with excitement)

 

[gregmcateer]

Jim,
Thanks for the heads-up.
I've set it to record the whole series.
Greg

 

[SurreyHills]

Thanks - have also set to record it.

 

[No skills]

Aye, put the Series down for record. lets see how it is.

 

[Graham Orm]

Starting the 10th of January on BBC Four...a programme which may be of interest to us woodies....

Digiguide Information HERE

If it's BBC Four it's bound to be good!

Jim

Sorted and series linked in the planner...thank you.

 

[DIY Stew]

Thanks for that, series linked.

Stew

 

[AndyT]

Thanks for the tip-off Jim - I've just watched the first one.

I thought that for a mainstream programme aimed at a general audience it was pretty good. It did show quite a few pieces with some sensible experts enthusing (though the camerawork was poor at times, wobbling off to show the presenter not the furniture).

There were lots of questions left unanswered though - how did he manage to start in London with the Director and a big workshop and staff? Was any furniture actually made by him? Was the family trade carpentry or joinery? (They are not the same thing!)

But overall pretty good and I'll be watching the others as well.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Fantastic furniture, great TV

 

[jimi43]

Thanks for the tip-off Jim - I've just watched the first one.

I thought that for a mainstream programme aimed at a general audience it was pretty good. It did show quite a few pieces with some sensible experts enthusing (though the camerawork was poor at times, wobbling off to show the presenter not the furniture).

There were lots of questions left unanswered though - how did he manage to start in London with the Director and a big workshop and staff? Was any furniture actually made by him? Was the family trade carpentry or joinery? (They are not the same thing!)

But overall pretty good and I'll be watching the others as well.

Yes..it wasn't too dumbed down as is the trend these days.

We will be watching the next one...hopefully they might include more techniques as I found the shading with hot silver sand fascinating. I love the fret saw as well which first came to my attention with the Irish craftsmen YT video. That looks like a modern yet homemade version as well...aluminium frame and all that.

Jim

 

[arnoldmason8]

I've just watched this and I agree with Andy re camera work but it was a lot better most of this type of programme and we did see some craftsmen actually doing things. The veneer being used for the marquertry was thin modern stuff - the original would have been thick hand sawn veneer which you could not cut with a knife. Overall I enjoyed the programme and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Cheers------Arnold

 

[joez71]

Series sounds interesting, can anyone suggest a way I can watch it from Australia?

thanks
Joe

 

[Peter Sefton]

Try this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ippendale/

Cheers Peter

 

[Harbo]

Don't think you can access iPlayer from abroad but I understand there's ways around it with ISPs?

Rod

 

[marcros]

Don't think you can access iPlayer from abroad but I understand there's ways around it with ISPs?

Rod

i believe that you need to do something with a proxy server. what one of those is i dont know.

if there is a way to save the file from iplayer, i will happily do so and bung it on a memory stick for you but i am not sure that there is!

 

[Tierney]

I really enjoyed it. I thought it wasn't too dumbed down; I thought it was a good balance between some perspective on the man himself, the society / period that he lived in, the influence he has had, the furniture and techniques.

I had no knowledge of the director prior to watching this show and always find it amazing when you have craftspeople (dare I say Artist!) that in their time weren't obscure little artisans; but well known and successful (apart from the cashflow issue) and also progressive in marketing.

Very intrigued about his influence stateside - is federal style basically their interpretation of the director?

Looking forward to the second in the series.

DT

 

[Woodmatt]

I also thought it was dumbed down for a more general audience but if it bought good craftsmanship to the general pubic then thats got to be a good thing.
Regarding the previous post the point about Chippendale was that he was different from other artisans of the time in that he did produce a catologue unlike other craftsmen.I came away from the programme thinking he was more a designer than maker.
Shame there was,nt more methods of work shown.Looking forward to the Gibbons episide.

 

[Fromey]

I greatly enjoyed it but also wondered why they didn't explain how he got the initial capital to make the Director and to address the issue of his actual workmanship as opposed to his design and management (which was implied only).

I really liked the little bit on Anthony Hay's workshop in Colonial Williamsburg. If you're not familiar with it, here is their somewhat infrequent blog;

http://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.wordpress.com/

I use the following picture from that workshop as my desktop background on all my computers so it was a treat to see the carver working right next to it;

http://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.files.wor ... c_0008.jpg

If you want to view regionally restricted videos, you should Google "ip spoofing to view videos" and start reading.

 

[Jacob]

.....
There were lots of questions left unanswered though - how did he manage to start in London with the Director and a big workshop and staff?

I imagine he arrived in London with his new design ideas and worked his way up - fairly rapidly.

Was any furniture actually made by him?

Initially yes, and no doubt he would have been hands-on as and when necessary, but he became primarily a furniture designer/entrepreneur.
He must have been a highly competent draughtsman which meant he could evolve ideas on paper and eventually produce the Director. His products are very 'graphic' - clearly produced from drawings rather than from 'craft' direct carving etc.
His trajectory would have been similar to other expanding businesses starting from one man/family all hands-on to a large workforce doing all the hand work.

Was the family trade carpentry or joinery? (They are not the same thing!) .....

They are a similar thing and many businesses would have involvement in different areas. They showed an oak chest from the family business.
One central trade was undertaking and it was interesting to see that this was still a Chippendale sideline much later.

I was interested in the detail about colour- his stuff must have been positively gaudy on occasions! And all the better for it IMHO.

 

[AndyT]

The related material on the V&A website looks a good starting point to answer some of the questions skated over in the TV programme: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/thomas-chippendale/

It says there he published 'The Director' six years after arriving in London (the programme left me thinking he somehow managed to do so straight away) and that "Chippendale would not have made furniture himself – or even managed the workshop. His role probably involved making designs, cultivating clients and promoting the business."

Incidentally, if anyone fancies a fictionalised account of a young cabinet maker working for Chippendale who is struggling to get paid by mean aristocrats in eighteenth century England, you might enjoy "The Grenadillo Box" by Janet Gleeson.

But neither book or TV programme left me any the wiser on how to go about making a coin cabinet whose front was curved back on plan and also on elevation, or how to veneer a commode whose surfaces curved in two directions...