Biography

Born in 1838 Anderston in Glasgow, from a sea-faring family that originated in the Isle of Man, his training in stained glass and decorative trades led him to London where he absorbed the influences of John Ruskin, William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites.

Returning to Scotland in 1862, he rapidly rose to prominence by forming connections with a number of leading architects including Alexander Thomson and the young William Leiper.

William Leiper’s first solo commission was to design Dowanhill Church in Glasgow and in this work he collaborated with Cottier to evolve a bold scheme of interior decoration, stained glass and decorated furniture expressing a wide range of influences, Classical Greek, Gothic, Egyptian, Assyrian and Japanese.

In 1869 Cottier moved to London to set up his business Cottier & Co which within four years he had extended to New York and was supplying designs to Australia where he partnered with John Lamb Lyon, a fellow apprentice who had emigrated there in 1861.

This expansion did not prevent Cottier from continuing to be extremely active in Scotland, most frequently in the interiors of commissions undertaken by William Leiper.

Cottier’s gift for discovering and engaging designers to carry out his ideas and his shrewd business mind underpin the success he achieved in Scotland, Europe, USA and Australia in the years up to 1891 when he was to die of heart failure on a trip to Jacksonville, Florida.

By that time he had exerted a formidable influence on artistic tastes within each of the countries where he had been active.