Teakwood Room

The Teakwood Room’s Journey to Appleton 

The Teakwood Room, envisioned by designer Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932), a major figure in the American Aesthetic Movement, has resided on the second floor of Alice G. Chapman Hall since 1968. It is one of an estimated 12 rooms designed by de Forest and purchased by wealthy Americans in the late 19th century. This is one of only a few intact de Forest interiors, and the only one in the Midwest. Most of his commissions were created for patrons on the East coast.

Despite its current location, the room has a complex and layered history spanning three different continents. The room originated from a woodcarving studio that de Forest, founded in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. From there, it travelled through a port in London before arriving in New York and then journeying to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Philanthropist Alice G. Chapman purchased the room from de Forest's display to be installed in her Milwaukee home. After her death in 1935, Chapman bequeathed the room to Milwaukee-Downer College, where it served as a social space until the school’s consolidation with Lawrence University in 1964. 

Lockwood de Forest, the Mistri, and “Authentic Indian Handicraft” 

The room contains furniture and ornate wooden panels, all hand-carved out of teak, a rare Indian wood that is both easily carved and sturdy. The carvings and designs have historically been attributed to American designer de Forest, but further scholarship has revealed they are the work of a caste-based crafts guild.

In the 1870s, de Forest visited India for the first time and became obsessed with Indian architecture. He searched for carpenters who could manufacture authentic Indian furniture; he eventually found them in the city of Ahmedabad, in western India. Full of ambition, de Forest felt Ahmedabad was a place where he “could really do something,” and his intuition was correct: he was introduced to Mr. Muggunbhai Hutheesing, and they struck up a partnership to form the Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company. This venture was beneficial to both parties, as the export of furniture and carvings helped de Forest advance his design business, and the funds Hutheesing received went back into the local economy. 

The Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company employed a workforce from a subcaste of specialized craftspeople known as the Mistri. Among the Mistri, knowledge of a specific craft was passed down through generations. For de Forest, this was a marker of their authenticity and ability to create “real” Indian art and handicraft, which he could incorporate into his interior designs. 

In the early years of the Ahmedabad Woodcarving Company, de Forest partnered with celebrated designer Louis Comfort Tiffany to create additional decorative embellishments for his interiors. An established artist and founder of Tiffany & Company, he produced stained glass, mosaics, and other decorative glass objects, including the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in this room. The collaboration with Tiffany was central to de Forest’s commercial venture. By including fixtures designed by the well-known artist connected the room to an affluent clientele while increasing its prestige and public reception.

Constructing the Exotic 

Many of de Forest’s carved interiors included recurring decorative motifs, most commonly the winding vine. Blooming flowers emerge from the base of the teak columns and climb upward towards the ceiling and continue along the borders to create an organic, allover pattern. These flowers were carved using metal stencils, allowing the same motifs to appear in various de Forest rooms and furniture designs. Intricately designed capitals sit on the top of each column, composed of curved elephant trunks from which more flowers and vines grow and overlap. On the front of each column, a peacock proudly spreads its wings towards the viewer. Together, the flowers, vines, elephants, and peacocks suggested a wild, untamed natural setting that Western audiences of the late nineteenth century perceived as foreign and exotic.

In the early 1890s, de Forest received a commission to create a fully carved teak wood room for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The World’s Fairs were global exhibitions that allowed nations from all around the world to showcase their artistic achievements, technological innovations, and cultural identities. The Teakwood Room was displayed in the India section of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. An official fair guidebook, identified the room as: “De Forest, Lockwood, Ahmedabad. […] Complete Indian room in carved teakwood, from designs by Mr. Lockwood de Forest, executed at his workshops at Ahmedabad, India. Marshall Field & Co., exclusive Chicago agents.” Its placement in the India section demonstrates how de Forest advertised the objects he was selling as uniquely and authentically Indian, despite being an American designer. 

The Teakwood Room at Milwaukee-Downer College & Lawrence University 

During its time at Milwaukee-Downer, the Teakwood Room was beloved by students. Located in the Chapman Memorial Library, it was used as a social space for students and for music performances and art exhibitions. In 1947, an article published in the Downer student newspaper The Snapshot reviewed an exhibition of works by Indian artist N. S. Bendré held in the Teakwood Room. This show led to the eventual installation of Bendré’s painting of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, above the fireplace. The painting replaced Alice Chapman’s choice of a Wisconsin landscape, more typical of the types of paintings commonly found in de Forest’s interiors. What you see here is a reproduction of the original painting, which is currently in storage due to its fragile condition.

After its installation on the Lawrence campus, the room became a gathering space for meetings, receptions, and special events., In recognition of its Milwaukee-Downer heritage, the room was used to hold Downer reunion events that allowed alumnae to reconnect with the room they loved so dearly. In the early 2020s, a preservation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities sparked renewed interest in the room’s conservation and future use.