Bruce James Talbert

Bruce James Talbert (1838–1881) was a Scottish architect and interior designer. He started learning his trade in Scotland, staring out being apprenticed to a woodcarver in Dundee and then an architect in Glasgow, becoming an assistant to the architect William Nairne Tait and then a draftsman for the architect Campbell Douglas.

In 1862 he moved to Manchester and designed furniture for Doveston, Bird & Hull and then went on to Francis Skidmore at Art Manufacturers in Coventry where he did drafting work on Sir George Gilbert Scott’s Hereford Screen and Albert Memorial in 1863.

In 1866 he joined Holland & Sons in London to design furniture. In the following year he won a silver medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition for his Reformed Gothic designs.

He moved to London in 1866 to design furniture for Holland & Sons. The following year his Reformed Gothic designs won a silver medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition. He also designed stained glass, wallpaper, textiles and metalwork. He wrote three books on furniture, metalwork, tapestry and decorative design, the last of which was published after he died in 1881 of alcoholism and overwork.

He had a lasting influence on other Modern Gothic designers, particularly in America influencing Kimbel & Cabus, Frank Furness and Daniel Pabst.

In addition to furniture, Talbert designed metalwork, tiles, stained glass, textiles, and wallpaper.

There are three of his furniture pieces on display in the V&A Museum in London including his Juno Cabinet of 1878 which won the Grand Prix at the Paris Exhibition in 1878.