There are few settings more inspiring than WOW!house – the annual celebration of creativity and craftsmanship hosted at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour. This year, we were proud to be part of the story, placing an exceptional instrument at the heart of one of the most creative rooms in the house.
Step into the richly layered Fromental Drawing Room by Chad Dorsey, and you’ll find a piano unlike any other: the John Broadwood & Sons – William Morris Edition, crafted in London around 1893 and designed by William Morris. Selected not only for its historical significance but for its visual poetry, the piano lends a quiet grandeur to the room — a piece that bridges music, design, and storytelling.
The story behind this piano is as remarkable as its design. Commissioned in 1892 by James Sanderson, a Scotsman who made his fortune as a sheep farmer in Australia, the instrument was made for his home, Bullers Wood – an Arts and Crafts house in Chislehurst, Kent, designed by architect Ernest Newton. Sanderson engaged Morris & Co to design the interiors, and this piano formed part of their final commission overseen by William Morris himself. Morris had previously designed a carpet for the same home, now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the decorative details of that carpet echo in the piano’s own design.
Broadwood’s records reveal a meticulous timeline: the piano was finished on 3rd March 1892, sent to Morris & Co on 24th March for decorative work, returned in September, and finally delivered to Bullers Wood on 14th August 1893. It is a piece not only of musical and artistic merit, but of deeply layered cultural significance.
Chad Dorsey’s interiors are known for their tailored balance of form, materiality, and restraint with the Fromental Drawing Room exemplifying this perfectly. The Broadwood piano sits not as a flourish, but as a considered element within a larger story: a room where artistry, memory, and conversation meet.
If you had the chance to visit WOW!house 2025, we hope you spent a moment in the Fromental Drawing Room to pause beside the Bullers Wood Broadwood. Quietly poised, it didn’t demand attention, but for many, it left a lasting impression. And if it leaves you curious about its journey or about the broader world of historical and contemporary instruments; we’d be delighted to welcome you to one of our showrooms.
