Wooden Tray hand carved by Marion St Clair (Clair) Layman

Clair Layman was the granddaughter of George Layman who arrived from Augusta in 1834 and established a farm at Wonnerup, where he farmed until his death in 1841. Clair’s father, George Laymen Junior then took over the farm, built the heritage listed Wonnerup House in 1859 and was the local representative for the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1884 until 1888.

Clair Layman was born as Marion St Clair Layman in 1869, daughter of George Layman II and Amelia Harriet nee Curtis. She was educated at Wonnerup School and then at Bishops Girls College (1883-1885), Perth, Western Australia. She learnt chip carving in Hawaii in 1903 when on a holiday visiting her aunt Harriet and became well known in the southwest for her wood carvings and needlework.

After the death of her parents she decided to build a home in Busselton and with that object in view she came to Perth in 1927 and studied woodcarving for some months with William Howitt . In 1930 she moved permanently into her new Busselton home and her carving featured strongly in the furniture and fittings throughout the house.

Clair would have been influenced by designs featured in The Studio, one of the English Arts and Crafts journals of the day. She would have seen the interiors of homes in England in magazines and absorbed their sensibilities, which later emerged when designing her own home. However, the effects of the Arts and Crafts movement found its way to Clair most directly through the scholarship roles of William Howitt, Gordon Holdsworth and Henry Princep whose work drew heavily on the influence of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement in England as well as the Art Nouveau style.

She exhibited all over Australia and is reputed to have won prizes at Melbourne, Coolgardie and Fremantle.