Daniel Cottier (1838–1891) was a Scottish artist, stained glass designer and decorative entrepreneur who became an important early figure in the Aesthetic movement. Trained in Glasgow and Edinburgh workshops, he developed a distinctive approach to colour and ornament that combined medieval and Renaissance sources with contemporary taste. In the late 1860s he established Cottier & Co., first in Glasgow and then in London, and quickly expanded overseas with branches in New York, Sydney and Melbourne.
Cottier’s firm offered complete “art decoration” for churches and houses, supplying stained glass, wall and ceiling schemes, painted panels, tiles, furniture and textiles. The London branch traded as Art Furniture Makers, Glass and Tile Painters, and surviving pieces show ebonised and painted cabinets, cupboards and tables closely linked to his interior schemes. Through these internationally marketed interiors and furnishings, Cottier helped to spread Aesthetic taste in Britain, North America and Australia, influencing designers such as Louis Comfort Tiffany and leaving a small but important body of furniture that sits alongside his better-known stained glass.
