A quintessential global product : bentwood furniture in Canada and Australia 1860 to 1945

Wright, Virginia Margaret

A quintessential global product : bentwood furniture in Canada and Australia 1860 to 1945

Wright, Virginia Margaret

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2017

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Wright, Virginia Margaret
dc.date.accessioned	2017-11-16T00:32:05Z
dc.date.available	2017-11-16T00:32:05Z
dc.date.issued	2017
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/120194
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.	en_AU
dc.description.abstract	This thesis is the first global history of an ubiquitous product, the bentwood chair, one of the most common furnishing items in 19th-century Australia. It identifies two Canadian companies that were large-scale manufacturers of chairs and other products, and traces their local production and global distribution in an integrated history of design, trade, and consumption. It posits that trade between Canada and Australia began earlier and was much larger than current accounts suggest. The thesis contributes to a new understanding of comparative economic development and nascent 19th-century industries and occupations. It analyses a wide range of sources including government reports, trade catalogues, studio and vernacular photography, business publications, family archives, shipping records, and newspaper articles and advertising. It tests the generalisation of exclusive Austrian and American ownership of the massive global trade in bentwood chairs. In doing so, it challenges the perception of a primarily English influence in British Empire trade and consumption.	en_AU
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_AU	en_AU
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/120194/7/02whole.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/ppc
dc.subject	19th century furniture history.	en_AU
dc.subject	Design history.	en_AU
dc.subject	International trade - 19th Century.	en_AU
dc.title	A quintessential global product : bentwood furniture in Canada and Australia 1860 to 1945	en_AU
dc.type	Thesis	en_AU
utslib.copyright.status	open_access

Abstract:

This thesis is the first global history of an ubiquitous product, the bentwood chair, one of the most common furnishing items in 19th-century Australia. It identifies two Canadian companies that were large-scale manufacturers of chairs and other products, and traces their local production and global distribution in an integrated history of design, trade, and consumption. It posits that trade between Canada and Australia began earlier and was much larger than current accounts suggest. The thesis contributes to a new understanding of comparative economic development and nascent 19th-century industries and occupations. It analyses a wide range of sources including government reports, trade catalogues, studio and vernacular photography, business publications, family archives, shipping records, and newspaper articles and advertising. It tests the generalisation of exclusive Austrian and American ownership of the massive global trade in bentwood chairs. In doing so, it challenges the perception of a primarily English influence in British Empire trade and consumption.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/120194