Carel Adolph Lion Cachet (Amsterdam, November 28, 1864 - Vreeland, May 15, 1945) was a Dutch artist. Born Carel Adolph Cachet, he had the surname Lion added in 1901. After successfully training as a teacher at the Amsterdam Nursery School between 1880 and 1885, he became a drawing teacher at various schools in Amsterdam. He then developed into an ornamental artist: he batiked, was a wood engraver, designed wallpaper, carpets, decorative pottery, furniture, banknotes, posters, was a bookbinding designer and made complete designs for furnishing salons on Dutch passenger ships, including Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland. Life Cycle Cachet was born in Amsterdam on November 28, 1864, the second child of Carel Cachet and Johanna van Doorn. His father was head teacher at a public elementary school first class in Willemstraat, in the middle of the Jordaan area of Amsterdam. His mother also worked for several years as a crafts teacher at this school. Cachet was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and was therefore sent to the Teacher Training School in Amsterdam. Here he was only interested in the drawing lessons of Hendrik A.C. Dekker (1836-1905) and Ben Wierink (1856-1939). Through Wierink, Cachet was introduced to Japanese and Oriental art. He also introduced Cachet to various techniques such as batik and lithography. After obtaining his L.O. drawing certificate and M.O. drawing certificate, Cachet continued to teach at various schools. From 1887-1890, Cachet attended classes at the "Rijksnormaalschool voor tekenonderwijzers. Here he became friends with Gerrit Dijsselhof (1866-1924). Through Dijsselhof, Cachet got to know Theo Nieuwenhuis (1866-1951). This trio was very close and worked closely together for several decades. However, Cachet's successful career was due not only to his artistic qualities but also to his good social skills. During his career he managed to build a large network which consisted mainly of Amsterdam entrepreneurs and merchants. Early years Already during his lessons from Wierink he made a number of drawings. Initially he made many works with ships in the harbor on them. He produced his first graphic design, a book cover, for a public elementary school where he was also working himself. A number of studies of school children are also known from this time. Cachet had two patrons: the Amsterdam physician Dr. Willem van Hoorn (?-1901) and Klaas Groesbeek (1868-1936) director of art dealership E.J. van Wisselingh & Co, among others. Through these patrons, Cachet received a number of important commissions for making charters. Through the firm of Van Wisselingh & Co. in 1896, Cachet also received a number of commissions to create interiors. The first interior commission was given to Cachet by Mr. and Mrs. Cordes-Bok (completed in 1898). Later furniture and interiors could be made in the workshop which Van Wisselingh & Co. had set up for Cachet, Dijsselhof and Nieuwenhuis in 1898. Furniture and interior designs Cachet's first designs for furniture probably date from 1895. In these designs, the influence of H.P. Berlage is readily apparent. The furniture is purposeful and ornaments are hardly found. The furniture is reminiscent of the nineteenth century, in which historical styles were preferred. It is clear that Cachet had not yet found his own style. Cachet therefore continued to experiment with furniture designs. He started using more and more expensive materials and decorated his furniture with many ornaments. Thus we see in his work a lot of ivory and coromandel wood and motifs of lions, plants and fish. Ship Interiors With the rise of the steam engine, intercontinental shipping had experienced a stormy development during the second half of the nineteenth century. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 greatly shortened the journey to the Dutch East Indies. Consequently, new boats were built in the Netherlands to meet the demand, for trips to this area. It was tradition to furnish a cruise ship's interior to the latest fashion. Cachet had already made a great name for himself when he was commissioned to design a number of ship interiors for the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (S.M.N.) and its subsidiaries the Koninklijke Pakketvaart Maatschappij (K.P.M.) and the Java-China-Japan-Lijn (J.C.J.L.). Unfortunately, due to World War II and the demolition of these ships, none of these interiors have survived. One of the interiors that did largely survive is that of the saloon boat Clasina, in use as a classic tour boat from Heeg in Friesland, designed and built at J.P.G. Thiebout's Werf 'de Amstel'.