Special Collections: The Frederick Parker Chairs and Archive

The Frederick Parker Collection is a unique and outstanding collection of almost 200 British chairs, ranging in date from 1660 to the present day. The collection also includes a substantial archive of related historical documents, artefacts and some company information covering the period 1880 to 2001. A selection of this material has been digitised.

Frederick Parker & Sons Ltd was first established in 1871. The firm’s output of high quality, hand-made furniture, was supported by the establishment of a collection of chairs, from earlier periods, from which the firm’s craftsmen could take inspiration and learn the techniques of the past. A growing reputation for excellence during the first half of the twentieth century brought the firm contracts to supply furniture for ocean liners such as Cunard’s RMS Aquitania and the P&O liner, HMS Ophir.

In the 1930s following a collaboration with Willi Knoll, a German furniture designer who had invented a tension suspension system for chairs, the family business was renamed and rebranded as Parker Knoll. Designs marketed as ‘Parker Knoll’ were produced alongside the more traditional furniture and the famous Parker Knoll recliner chair, regularly updated and refined, has become a highly successful, quality product which is firmly established as a staple of British furniture excellence.

The Frederick Parker Collection is owned by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers (now known as The Furniture Makers) one of the livery companies of the City of London, and has been on long-term loan to London Metropolitan University since 2002.

How students use the collections

The Frederick Parker Chair and Archive Collections are available to research in our reading room on campus. Tutors are welcome to book a group visit, or like students can email us direct or book in advance (if you require specific material from the business archives). 

The collections usually attract students studying courses like Fashion and Textiles, Graphic Design, and Illustration from the School of Art, Architecture and Design but due to records they hold about the business, including marketing and advertising material, are of use for students on courses in other Schools.

The full collection of chairs can now be viewed online on the Frederick Parker section of The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers website.

For an introduction to furniture design and a history of the industry, we have a number of books and publications on open (and closed) access in our Reading Room which can be searched on the main library catalogue.

To search the archive collections of Frederick Parker and Parker Knoll please visit our online catalogue.  

Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries at:

specialcollections@londonmet.ac.uk