Boulle

André-Charles Boulle (1642 – 1732) was the French cabinetmaker who became the preeminent exponent of marquetry in his day. His marquetry fame led his name being given to a particular type of inlaying known as Boulle (or Buhl in Britain) in the 19th century. He started out as a painter but was employed at...

Bramah Locks

Bramah was established in London in 1784 and is London’s oldest security company still in existence today. Joseph Bramah made his first lock in 1784 which was patented in 1787. It was unique and significantly advanced the protection of property and valuables. It was ahead of its day being 50 years ahead of Chubb...

Britannia Silver

Britannia Silver is the term used for an alloy of silver containing 95.84% silver with the rest usually being copper. The Britannia Silver standard was introduced by an Act of Parliament in 1697 to replace sterling silver (92.5% silver) as the legal standard for ‘wrought plate’. It was part of a drive to...

Broadway & Co

Broadway & Co is a silversmiths founded in 1900 by William Benjamin Broadway, a highly skilled die-sinker (a person who engraves dies used to stamp designs on coins or medals). Specialising in fine high quality sterling silver products, the complete range is handmade by expert craftsmen in-house. Many of the items...

Bronze Method – ‘Cold Cast’

Cold cast bronze statues are also known as bronze resin or bonded bronze. This technique involves filling the item’s mold with polyester, epoxy or another resin and then either mixing or painting bronze powder onto the surface to achieve an appearance of bronze. This method produces exact replicas from the mold...

Bronze method – ‘Lost-Wax’

The ‘lost wax’ method (also called cire-perdue) is a way of casting bronze statues and other objects. A model of the object or statue is made out of wax and then encased to make a mold. Once the mold is made the wax is then drained away, and the hollow left behind filled with molten […]

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...

Bruno Zach

Bruno Zach 1891-1945 was born in the Ukraine, and studied in Vienna at the Vienna Academy. He worked in Art Nouveau, Art Deco and orientalist styles and he is best known for his erotica sculptures featuring scantily clad young women in stockings, garters and high heels. One of Zach’s more controversial pieces,...

Bureau du Roi

Bureau du Roi – is a unique cylinder desk designed and made for Louis XV in France. It is also known as Louis XVi’s roll-top secretary. It was probably started in 1760 by its first designer, Jean-Francois Oeben who was the master cabinet maker of the royal arsenal and was finished in 1769 by Jean […]

Burr Walnut

Burr Walnut describes the swirling figure that can be found in virtually all walnut wood when it has been cut and polished. It is particularly prevalent in wood taken from a tree’s base where it meets the root. The ‘true’ burr occurs when hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow as the base of […]

Makers, Periods & Styles Library

Boulle

Bramah Locks

Britannia Silver

Broadway & Co

Bronze Method – ‘Cold Cast’

Bronze method – ‘Lost-Wax’

Bruce James Talbert

Bruno Zach

Bureau du Roi

Burr Walnut

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