Harry & Lou Epstein Art Deco Cloud Sofa

An Art Deco Cloud Sofa by Harry & Lou Epstein. Burr Ash veneered with figured walnut banding. Re-upholstered in green leather. 

Dimensions: H 81cm W 165cm D 65cm Seat H 48cm W 145cm D 60cm

Origin: English

Date: Circa 1935

The story of twentieth-century British furniture is incomplete without Harry and Lou Epstein, two brothers who transformed the landscape of English interior design between the world wars. Operating from the heart of London’s traditional cabinet-making district, they took the radical, avant-garde geometry born in Paris and adapted it for British tastes. In doing so, they created a luxurious aesthetic that remains the definitive hallmark of English Art Deco today. 

The Epstein story began a generation earlier in the late nineteenth century. Their father, Morris Solomon Epstein, immigrated to England from Poland and established a furniture-making workshop in Shoreditch, East London—an area then world-famous for its dense colony of independent woodworkers and artisans. Growing up in this environment, all six of Morris’s sons learned the nuances of fine timber and traditional construction.

By 1929, brothers Harry and Lou officially stepped out on their own to form H. & L. Epstein. They divided their responsibilities based on their natural strengths:

• Harry Epstein acted as the creative visionary and primary designer. He possessed a sharp eye for modern scale, proportion, and continental trends.
• Lou Epstein was the master craftsman, managing the workshop floor and ensuring the physical execution of Harry's ambitious designs.

While many contemporary British designers were still bound to the rustic ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement or traditional Edwardian reproductions, the Epstein brothers looked elsewhere. They drew heavy inspiration from the landmark 1925 Paris Exposition, adopting its fluid curves and lavish materials while stripping away some of Europe’s more polarising, ultra-modern extremes.

Item Number: 2409262