Ernest Archibald Taylor

Ernest Archibald Taylor (1874–1951) was a Scottish designer, painter, and architect associated with the Glasgow Style and the wider Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements. A contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Taylor began his career as a draughtsman at the Glasgow shipbuilders John Brown & Co. before studying at the Glasgow School of Art. He later joined Wylie & Lochhead, where he became a leading designer of refined furniture and interiors. Taylor's work is noted for its elegant proportions, stylized motifs, and subtle use of inlay and line, blending structural clarity with decorative restraint. Alongside his wife, the artist Jessie M. King, he moved to Paris and contributed to continental Art Nouveau exhibitions. His designs for furniture, textiles, and illustration reflected both a distinct Scottish identity and broader European influences. Though less widely known than some of his contemporaries, Taylor played a key role in the development of early 20th-century design in Britain and abroad.