The man who brought Mackintosh’s work to 78 Derngate was W J Bassett-Lowke who had established a model-making business in Northampton and was fascinated by functional modern design. In Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Bassett-Lowke found perhaps the one British designer of the time who was compatible with his tastes.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, born in 1868, was a Scottish architect and designer who lived most of his life in Glasgow. The project that helped make his international reputation was the Glasgow School of Art.