Commemorative secretaire by Robert Heritage for Archie Shine.
The small desk celebrates the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 through the one-off use of a solid and veneered yew. The highly figured wood provides a dynamic and decorative aesthetic to Heritage’s restrained design.
Yew may have been selected for both its ornamental value or as a historical reference to the wood’s use in medieval British bowmaking.
The secretaire reflects Heritages’ typically subtle and functional design vocabulary, utilising classical precedents for small writing tables. The arrangement of drawers is formal and purposeful. The top shelf with raised frame creating a hierarchy of open and closed storage suiting the act of letter writing.
The desk was manufactured by Archie Shine and sold through Heals. A recessed leather disc is embossed in a silver text to commemorate the Queens Silver Jubilee.
Robert Heritage was awarded more COID (Council Of Industrial Design) design awards by the Design Council than any other British designer in the 20th Century. His worked extended from industrial products to lighting and one-off commissions such as furniture for the QE2. Heritage was acknowledged as Royal Designer for Industry, awarded a CBE and was a professor of furniture at the Royal College of Art.
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