The versatile artist Christopher Dresser is often celebrated as the first industrial designer. Philosophically, he was aligned with his contemporary William Morris on the virtues of good design but unlike Morris, he did not distain industrial production methods. Rather than affiliating himself with a single company or starting a workshop of his own, Dresser worked as an independent designer for manufacturers in many media, including ceramics, metalwork, glass, furniture and textiles. This cast iron chair is emblematic of the marriage of design reform to industrial production.