09/05/2026
Any long time followers of mine may have noticed a switch in my content over the last 6 months or so.
Since closing my company last year and working now on smaller client pieces as a sole trader and for other joiners, it allows me the freedom to post about the things that I like, the areas of furniture and history that don’t necessarily earn me money but provide me a source of enjoyment vs MDF furniture and keeping up with the trends.
This post shows one of my favourite paintings.
‘Ebeniste’ /‘Ebenisterna’ (The Cabinetmakers) by the Swedish painter Elias Martin, c.1768–80.
It shows two men at work in a London workshop: one fret sawing marquetry pieces, the other using a small inlay knife and hammer to cutout the corresponding piece of ground veneer.
Elias Martin was born in Stockholm in 1739 was part of a circle of Swedish cabinet makers/Ebeniste’s working in Georgian London — including own brother Carl Gustav Martin, Christopher Fuhrlohg (later Ebeniste to the Prince of Wales), and Georg Haupt.
There seems to be various sources stating the identity of the two men, but it’s likely that one is Georg Haupt and the other probably Carl Gustav.
Either way, the painting although a little bland to some really resonates with me. Despite being 250 years ago, in many ways not much has changed.. simple hand tools, a messy workshop floor, less than ideal conditions. And yet these men were behind the golden age of furniture in Britain.
A subject and period I find fascinating and wish I had begun learning about years ago.
