Ambrose

One evening, I was searching for design ideas in reference books and online but nothing captured my imagination. It was time to give it a rest so I closed down the laptop and shut my sketch book. As I looked up, the simple elliptical handles on this dresser caught my eye and I knew instinctively that I would make a complementary piece to this.

The dresser bears the scars of nearly 100 years as it has passed through three generations of my family. The sparse design celebrates the richness of quality timber and the ease with which the drawers still slide bears testimony to the skill of Ambrose Heal’s craftsmen.

Some weeks later, I developed the elliptical theme and with the outline of a design established, visited the woodyard where I found a piece of quarter-sawn oak with beautifully symmetrical medullary rays. These became an important decorative feature across the drawer fronts. The elliptical theme continues in the tapered legs.

Nothing creates a connection between the maker and piece like hand-shaping. The finished profile emerges as shavings pile up under the workbench. There is a lot of gentle stroking to find irregularities and, as the finished profile comes ever closer, each cut is increasingly considered and deliberate.

The finished piece sits near to its inspiration. Occasionally I look at them and wonder what Ambrose Heal would make of my work.