DR. CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1934 - 1904) was a prodigious designer of applied arts (objects for household use and decoration). He is recognized as one of the world’s earliest independent industrial designers, associated over a period of nearly forty years with many different British manufacturers. Dresser’s designs were created for production in a remarkably diverse range of materials.

In 1847, Christopher Dresser entered the Government School of Design in London, where he came under the spell of the outstanding designer and design theorists of the period, Owen Jones (1809-74). In 1859 Dresser received a doctorate in Botany from Jena University, in Thuringia, Germany. Although he did not long pursue an academic career, the lessons drawn from nature were to have a profound effect on Dresser’s career as a designer. Finding inspiration in plants and their structures, which he determined were geometrically balanced, Dresser took a radically scientific approach to art and design. He believed that truth was founded in science and that art reflected beauty

Throughout his life, Dresser lectured and published on design. The Art of Decorative Design was published in 1862, followed by Principles of Decorative Design in 1873 arguably his most important publication, and Japan, Its Architecture and Art Manufactures published in 1882 recalling his significant and influential trip there in 1876-77.

Dresser’s first designs for manufacturers were in 1858, including a carpet for Jackson & Graham (circa 1840-85). From 1867, he was designing for Wedgwood, and Minton (ceramics), Green and Nephew (glass), and Coalbrookdale (cast iron).

(Source: The Met + H. Blairman and Sons; Image Credit: Kirkland Museum)