An Arts & Crafts Lakes School English Oak Pedestal Desk by Andrew Jordon. A generously sized and very attractive desk. Attractive and functional. Featuring:

• Solid English Oak.

• Very well figured quarter-sawn English Oak (quarter-sawing is a way of sawing oak to produce boards with superior strength which also reveals decorative 'medullary rays' in its grain).

• Rectangular top made out of just four continuous pieces of very well figured quarter-sawn solid timber.

• Left pedestal with 4 drawers (made with single plank fronts solid drawer carcasses joined with lap and through dovetails).

• Right pedestal with 3 drawers - the largest fitted out to accept standard A4 suspension file folders (made with single plank fronts solid drawer carcasses joined with lap and through dovetails).

• Backs with single fielded panels and solid planked sides.

• Brass handles.

• Plinth bases.

• Drawers running the full depth of the desk.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Length 1530mm (5 feet).

• Overall Depth 910mm (2 feet 11 3/4 inches).

• Overall Height 800mm (2 feet 7 1/4 inches).

post 2010.

Maker’s label on the underside.

Lovely condition with excellent rich colour and grain, original, smoothly sliding drawers and tight joints. A few minor chips from the bottom edge of the plinth. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

A high quality bespoke furniture maker who initially trained in Edinburgh and is now based at Crosby Ravensworth in Cumbria. He produces top quality cabinetry using hand selected local timbers and traditional cabinet making techniques.

The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength.

The Arts & Crafts Lakes School was a development of the Arts and Craft Cotswold School. The most significant designers and makers were Arthur Simpson, in Kendal, Stanley Webb Davies at Windermere and the Keswick School of Industrial Arts. Peter Hall of Staveley still produces furniture in this tradition. The Lakes School maintained the ideals with its simple lines, attention to the finest of details, the use of beautiful locally materials and the focus traditional tools and techniques. In fact Stanley Webb Davies' workshop didn't use any power tools at all, even to cut logs from timber! The dominant material was English Oak and typical decorative details often include exposed joints and subtle carved details.