NARRATOR: How does furniture from a catalogue… change the game? On the platform against the wall you’ll find the Barrington armchair, upholstered with delicate needlework. But there is more to its design than meets the eye.

WOLF BURCHARD: it's a chair that was made in the so-called French style because it's inspired by French Rococo furniture.

It’s very large, it's very gutsy, it's beautifully carved, it's made of mahogany. Mahogany became the national wood for English furniture in the 18th century, and it was a great status symbol. People would have known that it was very expensive, because it was sourced from the colonies, and then brought back to England.

NARRATOR: Before 1754, such a chair would’ve been created by an artisan using secretly guarded designs and techniques. Not this one. It was constructed from printed instructions—written and distributed by an enterprising designer: Thomas Chippendale.

WOLF BURCHARD: He produced his Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, which was like a catalog in which you could choose your furniture. It had lots and lots of different styles, and you could then take that catalog to your cabinet maker, and have something made to your specifications.

THOMAS CHIPPENDALE: Upon the whole, I have given no design but what may be executed with advantage by the hands of a skillful workman… and I am confident I can convince all Noblemen, Gentlemen, or others, who will honor me with their commands, that every design in the book can be improved, both as to beauty and enrichment, in the execution of it.

NARRATOR: Today, we’re familiar with shopping catalogs, online retail, and a million other ways to conveniently get what we need. But arguably, this consumer-friendly model started with Chippendale.

Furniture design could now cater in new ways to a growing consumer market–and there are examples all around you in this gallery: along the walls and in the center case. Meanwhile, cultural upheaval mean that monarchs and aristocrats were not the only ones dictating what was desirable design–let alone “good taste.”

Chippendale’s influence has since crossed borders and time. It even inspired the designs of early American furniture. And his innovative approach–to make craftsmanship and design easily reproducible–is still seen in our homes today.