Lost and unexamined aspects of the arts and crafts movement, with a particular focus on the design work of C.F.A. Voysey: evolving methodologies for recovery and study

Peart, Tony ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6367-1387 (2025) Lost and unexamined aspects of the arts and crafts movement, with a particular focus on the design work of C.F.A. Voysey: evolving methodologies for recovery and study. Doctoral thesis, University of Cumbria.

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Abstract

The subjects of my published work can be situated within the broad field of the Arts and Crafts movement and, in two instances—The Fulham Pottery and The Betula Ltd— as manifestations of its wider influence and legacy. There are two principal strands to my research: a sustained investigation into the ‘applied arts’ designs—in a wide variety of media—created by the architect Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857–1941); and a complementary series of studies examining the influence of the movement on late nineteenth-century art education and urban social reform, such as The Newcastle Handicrafts Co. and The Birmingham Guild of Handicraft. Common to all these studies is a desire to engage rigorously with primary material and artefacts, and through this to illuminate neglected or previously undocumented aspects of a movement whose historical and cultural significance continues to resonate. My work spans two distinct eras of archival research—the analogue and the digital—and I will explore how the transition between these has shaped not only my methodology but also my understanding of what constitutes research in the field of design history.

Over the course of forty years, my approach to research has undergone a substantial process of refinement and expansion. In my early career, my perspective was that of a practitioner: my understanding of form, process, and material was rooted in the discipline of making and observation. This foundation in practice instilled in me an acute sensitivity to the physical and aesthetic qualities of objects and to the creative intentions that shaped them. As my work developed, I began to situate these visual and tactile observations within a wider historical and cultural framework, integrating documentary evidence and contextual interpretation. This evolution—from a maker’s eye to a historian’s perspective—was gradual but transformative. It allowed me to shift from recording and describing artefacts to interpreting them as expressions of social and philosophical values, situating the Arts and Crafts movement as a multidimensional cultural phenomenon rather than merely a stylistic episode.

Methodologically, my practice as a design historian has been grounded in a combination of close visual analysis, archival research, and, more recently, digital documentation and curation. Early research relied upon extensive visits to archives and collections, often working with uncatalogued or poorly preserved materials. The physical act of handling and photographing objects cultivated a tactile intimacy with my subjects, while the slow pace of analogue research encouraged reflection and precision. With the advent of the digital age, my methodology expanded to incorporate new technologies of recording, indexing, and retrieval. The creation of extensive digital archives—most notably my systematic documentation of the RIBA Voysey Collection— transformed my ability to analyse, cross-reference, and disseminate primary material. These digital tools did not replace traditional methods but rather enhanced them, allowing me to bridge the manual and the technological, the visual and the analytical. I argue that this synthesis constitutes a methodological contribution to design historical research, demonstrating how traditional scholarship and digital innovation can coexist to mutual advantage.

This supporting statement is divided into three chapters. The first provides a critical overview of the intellectual context in which my work is situated, capturing the state of knowledge prior to my entry into the field and positioning my subjects within the wider historiography of the Arts and Crafts movement. The second chapter outlines my contribution to knowledge through a discussion of the submitted publications, their interrelationships, and the methodological developments that have informed them. The final chapter evaluates the wider significance of my interventions within design and cultural historical scholarship, identifying the special skills—both practical and intellectual—that I have brought to these endeavours and that continue to shape my evolving research identity.

Item Type:	Thesis/Dissertation (Doctoral)
Departments:	Institute of Arts > Graphics and Photography
Additional Information:	Tony Peart, Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design & Illustration, University of Cumbria, UK. This thesis is submitted for the degree of PhD by published work, University of Cumbria, Institute of Education, Arts and Society, March 2025.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	16 Dec 2025 11:48
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2025 11:48
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/9248

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