The WG Desk was made for a customer who requested an executive desk made using our burls used on Scout Label SKUs. We sell some desks, but none that match the luxury that this one exudes. It’s one of the first projects that I took on in my new role. I used familiar techniques to build the cabinets that form the sides of the desk. We have several designs that use this style base - rectangular, with a routed top profile, and a custom leg profile. For this piece I wanted to create a unique leg, chunkier and more pared back than others that we use. It’s also one of the first pieces we’ve produced that utilize multiple species of veneer. The look harkens to the furniture comissioned for Versailles, albeit it only sports a modicum of their adornement.
The references that the client passed along were modest silhouettes with specific elements of adornement. They wanted the look of different wood species, and the pure mass of an executive desk. My design has paneled drawer fronts, sides, and back. The paneling transitions walnut veneer, into a brass chamfer, and then olive ash panels. The legs are chunky, but orderly and neat. They’re solid walnut, and their mass is mirrored in the double walled cabinets that create the sides of the piece.
We knew that a marquetry heavy piece such as the first referenced picture would be a difficult task for even our most skilled carpenters. That aesthetic is outside of our normal veneering complexity, and recreating the layers and borders would be a time sink.
We needed to balance an Old World look with our style of manufacturing.
I submitted several rounds of technical drawing drafts to the client. The main idea is there from the beginning. Later, a pencil drawer is added. A cutout is added to the back panel to make it more dynamic, and a grommet is added to the top for devices hidden in the cabinet.
The piece is visualized differently too. This is earlier on when I was still getting used to SolidWorks and wasn’t as familiar with the rendering abilities of the platform.
The sketches that follow are the ones that got approval, pending the results from a door sample that we’d complete in a month or so after the sketch was approved.
The client approved a door sample, comprised of walnut, brass, and olive ash. In my opinion, the brass is executed tastefully. The Director of Production voiced that we should keep brass use to a minimum; we wouldn’t want it to sneak into SKUs where it would become too gaudy. In the case of this fat, fancy desk, it was perfect.
After the sample was approved, I developed some more production drawings for our carpenters to be able to recreate the base and legs as modeled. The leg drawing was printed at scale and used as a pattern at a bandsaw.
The following gallery shows some images from the desk’s production.
And here’s the completed desk - just waiting to be delivered.