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Edward Gardiner was encouraged to take up chair making by Ernest Gimson who in turn was encouraged by Philip Clissett. Clissett had been making traditional ladder back chairs from as early as 1838, those skills passed down to him. Clissett became a master craftsman of his own generation. He was discovered by Ernest Gimson who spent a few weeks with Clissett in C1890 to learn the art of chair making which Gimson in turn passed onto Edward Gardiner encouraging him from around 1904. Gardiner then developed his own art and style of chair making in the traditional way. Always handmade usually from Ash making them quite tactile, extremely strong and durable, yet very lightweight and therefore easy to move around. This traditional way that English ladderbacks were made is where the origins of Shaker furniture-making tradition came from. Ann Lee and her husband Abraham Stanley, the very first 'Shaker Quakers' to emigrate from the UK to Colonial America in 1774 took with them the essence of what Clissett and his forefathers had been refining for centuries before.
Clissett was once described by Alfred Powell as resembling, "what the old aristocratic poor used to be"..
