I was given carte blanche to design a desk which would become significant in the client’s life – this required serious thought. Conservative by nature I was obliged to listen to his hope that I would not be too modern. What you see in these photographs is a culmination of decisions which he hopefully might appreciate. He did. I wanted the desk to look handsome, masculine, a man’s desk for want of a better description. The construction was quite technically difficult considering the features I intended to incorporate in it. The drawer casements were made up as a single component suspended between the four legs. The weight of this, including the drawers was then spread evenly when secured to the top and fortified back rail. Legs rails etc. all made from English walnut – drawer fronts were laid in burr veneer with crossbanded borders. Knobs turned in dark mahogany on an inset ebony plaque. The tooled leather calf skin dyed an antique green laid into the desktop and secreted extending shelves were all part of an amalgam to which I had aspired in the invention of a desk of some significance.
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