Giles Grendey

Giles Grendey (1693-1780) was one of the best-known cabinet-makers of his time, due partly to the fact that he occasionally labelled his furniture, unlike most English cabinet-makers of the period. Based in Clerkenwell, London, he enjoyed enormous success as a cabinet and chair maker supplying furniture to many prominent houses, including Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire as well as Stourhead and Longford Castle in Wiltshire. Cabinet-makers in the Grendey workshop often marked their work with their initials in order to distinguish it from that of other employees. Grendey remains the most well-known English exponent of the art of 18th century japanning, supplying a celebrated set of furniture for the Duke of Infantando for his Castle of Lazcano.