Thomas Chippendale: a 1920s silent ‘biopic’

In 2017 a set of film canisters were rediscovered in the V&A stores, which turned out to contain 1920s silent ‘biopics’ of the furniture designers Thomas Chippendale and Thomas Sheraton. Both films are imaginative re-enactments of scenes from their lives. They were probably made for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1925. The Chippendale film is particularly ambitious, charting his rise to prominence and major commissions. A cast of character actors in 18th-century costumes perform on studio set