History of Jonathan Charles
This English company was established in 2004 at the initiative of Jonathan Sowter, cabinet maker and furniture designer from England, who has been passionate about making furniture from the age of twelve.
Having gathered cabinet making experience at a furniture company in Yorkshire, Sowter went to study Furniture Design and Craft. Right after his graduation, he had an encounter with renowned London based antiques dealer and reproduction furniture maker Paul Maitland-Smith, which made a lasting impression on him.
Leaving England for India‘s Rajasthan, Jonathan Sowter opened a furniture factory there, which he maintained for two years until he decided to change the location again. This time, he went to Vietnam, which is where Johnathan Charles Fine Furniture was eventually founded and has remained as the company‘s location to this day.
The furniture business only counted ten employees at the time of its inception, which has since grown to over 1000 craftspeople, all highly skilled and artistically inclined individuals.
Jonathan Charles: European Classics and Inimitable Pieces
The Jonathan Charles brand presents artfully crafted replicas of European antique furniture, the ideas for which company founder Jonathan Sowter often discovers on his travels, but also entirely unique designs, which are either varieties on a detail found in an antique object or completely novel creations based on other sources of inspiration.
Paying great attention to detail, the craftspeople working for Jonathan Charles use ancient techniques, such as for bronze casting, hand carving, marquetry and églomisé.
The high quality which Jonathan Charles is known and trusted for can also be found in each of the materials being used for its production, as can be seen in the valuable leathers and fine woods with distressed finishes used for many of its products, which are all created to last.
After the company has made the disappointing experience of hardware suppliers not being able to provide exactly what they would need for a specific design to materialize, Jonathan Charles began to make some of its hardware from scratch. Today, all of the bronze and brass fittings – locks, keys and pulls - are fabricated with the help of the company‘s in-house foundry.
Lastly, Jonathan Charles appoints inspectors to test their components and designs for technical soundness and to monitor the manufacturing process at important points, ensuring that the high quality standards the company has set for itself will always be complied with.
Jonathan Charles‘ Finely Crafted and Masterfully Replicated Furnishing
The product range of Jonathan Charles includes cabinets, chairs, beds, tables, chests, sideboards, bars, buffets, screens, mirrors and accessories.
To offer an example of Jonathan Charles excellent reproduction skills, there is its Regency style round mirror, originally produced in the 1820s, which has a walnut frame inserted with gilded balls, intricately carved gilded leaf swags on its top and bottom, and a convex églomisé mirror glass.
Looking further, one will discover an Art Deco inspired tall, three drawer chest with gilded handles, a gilded base made out of wrought iron, and, most interestingly, églomisé mirror plates with borders handpainted in gold serving as the main body‘s surfaces – an idea stemming from the 1930s Hollywood Regency era.
Whether one is interested in furniture for a delightful, romantic interior inspired by the past, or a solution for a rather modern living space, with a touch of the time-tested and classical, Jonathan Charles offers a large selection of furniture items suitable for every good taste.
