William Switzer’s three collections furnish a handful of exceptional spaces, throughout the world, designed by professionals with an eye for the exquisite. We honour the tradition of furniture as a work of art. Guided by established principles of taste, we create antique reproductions of furniture that has graced the most stately homes in European history. It is my last wish to be buried sitting up. Bette Davis’ living room, furnished from the Charles Pollock Collection. These are heirloom pieces built not just to last, but to carry forward the stories within them. Guided by this commitment to continuity and longevity, we create works that are the very definition of timeless, keeping history’s most beautiful moments alive. During the 1993 Vancouver Summits, Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin were seated in William Switzer Russian Shield Back Arm Chairs in English Cherry with gold leaf trim. "Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends."
Beauty: A necessary luxury Curated from history’s most refined periods, our three collections represent the work of western civilization’s most gifted artisans. Painstakingly handcrafted from luxury materials, each piece is a quiet triumph of the exquisite over the expedient. William Switzer’s Unerring Eye Interior designer William Switzer was legendary for his refined taste. This line of reproductions has been inspired by the extraordinary antiques from his personal collection—some of European history’s most admired and storied pieces. Lucien Rollin’s French Moderne Perfection With a commitment to his craft that bordered on the obsessive, Lucien Rollin designed furniture as pleasing to the eye as it was to the contours of the body. His uncluttered aesthetic honours the integrity of the wood and other materials chosen. Charles Pollock’s Eclectic Character Charles Pollock’s reproductions from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries have been exaggerated and modified to suit modern spaces.
The results exude warmth and character, with hand finishing that enhances the uniqueness of each piece. One does not make objects of beauty because it is convenient to do so. Crafting beauty is a labour of love, a vocation that requires thousands of hours to learn the skills, adapt the eye, and perfect the techniques. It is the relentless pursuit of getting the smallest details just so. In William Switzer workrooms, everything is fashioned, fit, and finished by hand. A respect for tradition, for quality, and for the wood itself dictates our old-world approach to cabinetmaking: perfectly shaped peg and dowel construction, French polishing, precise marquetry, and complex inlays. The real magic happens when our craftsmen collaborate with professional interior designers, customizing the pieces to follow a fresh creative vision. We can upholster with virtually any fabric you supply—and apply any paint, stain, trim, or finish you can imagine. When a gracious object of art becomes refreshed by progressive creative thinking, the possibilities are endless.
We invite your imagination to run wild.Scandal has struck Versailles after police arrested two respected antiques dealers on suspicion of selling fake Louis XV chairs to the famed royal chateau, sending France’s high-end antiques world into “panic”. Art fraud officers detained the two dealers for questioning were both Paris-based experts in 18th century furniture. They are suspected of selling two fake chairs out of a batch of four to the Chateau at Versailles, home of Louis XIV, for €1.7m (£1.3m). If their suspicions prove founded, commentators warned the ramifications could prove the “ruin” of France’s antique furniture market and leave a string of museum curators and even government ministers red-faced. The French art fraud office, OCBC, began investigating the two antiques dealers, Bill Pallot, a chair specialist, and Laurent Kraemer, owner of the Kraemer gallery – one of Paris’ oldest – in 2012. They started the probe after receiving letters of denunciation from another French antiques dealer, Charles Hooreman, a renowned specialist of 18th century chairs – considered among the most refined in French history.
Over the past 20 years, Versailles has bought 10 antique out of a total of 13 chairs built by Louis Delanois - the master chair maker who built a batch in 1769 for Madame du Barry, Louis XV’s mistress - along with one 19th century copy recognised as such. However, according to Mr Hooreman, the so-called “originals” are in fact recent copies. Among these are at least two out of four bought in 2009 from Kraemer’s, founded in 1875 for 1.7 million. France’s culture ministry then hailed the chairs as “national treasures”. Mr Hooreman said he first started having doubts about their authenticity when he realised that too many were in circulation, given that another six of were sold in Christie’s in New York in 2001. In all, 12 were built plus a slightly larger version for Louis XV himself, which has been lost. “I have seen them all, handled them, examined them. Versailles has 10, (a) Swiss collector two, and I know another that is impeccable belonging to a Parisian collector,” he told Le Monde.
Mr Kraemier, however, dismissed the claims, telling the paper: For us this furniture is perfect. What’s more they’ve been classified as national treasures, which means they were studied and analysed over several weeks, then appeared before a commission. For me, as for (the commission), they are genuine.” Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the former culture minister and president of Versailles when the chairs were bought concurred, saying: “Everyone would have had to be blind or in on it, which I cannot believe.” While experts at Versailles insist they have found nothing at fault, one antique furniture restorer told Le Monde: “For us others, the 18th century stops in 1914. In fact you can even push as far as the Second World War. Until then, most workshops used the same techniques, the same materials and tools as those of the time. If a piece of furniture was made properly, there is very little chance of being detected as fake.” Expert forgers have easy access to old wood and are even known to sprinkle dust from churches dating back to the right period to cover their tracks.