Giles Grendey (1693-1780), a leading London cabinet-maker, was born in Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. He was the apprentice to the London joiner William Sherborne before becoming a freeman in 1716. Taking his own apprentices by 1726, Grendey was elected to the Livery of the Joiners’ Company in 1729. His first workshop was at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, and he subsequently moved to St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell in 1772. He developed a thriving export trade. Grendey’s chair makers are known to have often stamped pieces with their initials and japanned furniture was a particular speciality of his workshops.

Grendey’s most important recorded commission was the celebrated Lazcano Palace scarlet japanned furniture from the collections of the Dukes of Infantado – arguably the most elaborate suite of English furniture made during the 18th century. Commissioned specifically for export to Spain, the ensemble comprised at least seventy-seven pieces including tables, chairs, daybeds, looking glasses, tripod stands, and several desks and bookcases. Pieces from this suite can be seen in leading institutions including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.