The Important : Furniture Periods.

Furniture history is extremely fascinating. In 1820 in Australia, pioneers on isolated sheep runs were knocking up from local timbers, functional furniture that was the last word in simplicity. Two hundred years before them, early-American pioneers arriving from England empty-handed, had done the same. But Australia was no different from any other pioneer country; all colonists as wealth increased, looked back to Europe for the fine furniture that would set the stamp of luxury on their way of living .

The contemporary attitude to period furniture is mostly an educated one free from sentiment or nostalgia for the past, and not over-concerned with the supposition of wealth that owning valuable, antique furniture implies.

Furniture styles are as indicative of a nation's custom and way of living as the history that a nation makes. The important decorative influence of the Classic period which originated in Greece, is still felt today in many facets of modern decoration although the Classic period reached its zenith in the fifth century BC!

In the Dark Ages, Roman, Byzantine and Oriental influences were felt in furnishing and decorating, but it was the Gothic style that became the most important style that culminated in great Gothic castles and cathedrals. In time to come, Thomas Chippendale was to turn to the Gothic period and revive the pointed Gothic arch in chandeliers, bracket-clocks and secretary bookcases.

During the period between 15th and 18th centuries three great decorative movements spread throughout Europe. The first was the Renaissance, followed by the Baroque and Rococo periods; all were based originally on the Classic styles of Greece and Rome .