Conservation of 20th Century Furniture provides a comprehensive coverage of materials and techniques that are encountered in twentieth century furniture, through both a contextual point of view and a range of practice perspectives. After putting the design, manufacture and conservation of twentieth-century furniture into context, this volume then offers an A-Z of materials. Within each chapter, a wide variety of material types are discussed, observed, analysed and contextualized, and further sources for consultation provided. The furniture discussed ranges from designer craftsman individually-made pieces, to factory-produced batch items, and includes cabinet work, decoration, surface finishes and upholstery, observing the traditional repertoire of materials and the innovative materials and processes introduced during the century. Conservation of 20th Century Furniture is the primary resourse for those studying and conserving twentieth-century furniture. The book will be of interest to those concerned with a wide range of topics in the manufacture, history and care of twentieth-century furniture, including curators, dealers and collectors.

This book focuses on the two early plastics casein and celluloid encountered in late nineteenth and early twentieth century furniture. The comparison between casein formaldehyde and cellulose nitrate, examines the manufacturing processes of each polymeric material observing physical and chemical properties. The relationship of casein plastic to furniture as decoration is explored through the extant furniture of CR Mackintosh. This establishes Mackintosh as the first designer to use casein as a decorative plastic inlay, not using it as an imitation of semi-precious materials, but as a plastic. Historic material has been evaluated through contemporaneous trade literature, amongst others, illustrating the extent of the employment of cellulose nitrate by furniture makers and fretwork cutters of this period. Identification techniques for these early polymeric materials are reviewed resulting in a standardised approach to analytical, chemical and macroscopic procedures for their examination. Guidance for the conservation of casein formaldehyde is provided through the findings of experimentation conducted for this research.