Hepplewhite (Born 1727) born in England - Ryton, County Durham. He was making cabinets and many regard him as one of the leading 3 furniture makers in England during his time, together with Thomas Chippendale and Thomas Sheraton. Pieces of furniture that he made or were made by his firm do not exist today but his name was given to a distinctive style of elegant, light furniture that was fashionable in the late 1700s and early 1800s and reproductions of his designs continued through the centuries that followed. Many of his designs have a feature that is seen in them; the chair the back shaped like a shield where the unrestrained shield appears representing a narrow design. Very little is known about the artist himself. According to some sources, Hepplewhite served his apprenticeship in Lancaster with Gillows. He was based in London, where he opened a shop. After his death, the business was continued by Alice, his widow. Hepplewhite published a book in 1788.
The book has about 300 of his designs, Upholsterers Guide and The Cabinet Maker, with two further editions that were published in 1789 and 1790. He was an individual to be reckoned with in any study that involved the development of techniques in furniture making. Hepplewhite has shared with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale the honor of fostering or creating that national taste for artistic beauty in furniture which reached its peak in England - the neoclassical period between 1780 and 1800. No record has been left to show the kind of man Hepplewhite was - it can only be argued that he was a man of skill and taste.
