born June 7, 1868, Glasgow, Scot.
died Dec. 10, 1928, London, Eng.
Scottish architect, furniture designer, and artist.
A giant of the Arts and Crafts Movement , he is especially revered for his glass-and-stone studio building at the Glasgow School of Art (1896–1909), where he had attended classes. In the 1890s he achieved an international reputation creating unorthodox posters, craftwork, and furniture. Considered Britain's first designer of true Art Nouveau architecture, he produced work of an unrivaled lightness, elegance, and originality, as exemplified by four remarkable tearooms he designed in Glasgow (1896–1904). By 1914 he was dedicating all his energies to watercolour painting. The late 20th century saw a revival of interest in his work and the manufacture of reproductions of his chairs and settees, which were characterized by starkly simple geometric lines.