Villiers Ltd reception desk, 1979

Made of strips of Iroko, like the stair treads of the staircase behind. Iroko is hard to cut and the resin burns onto a circular saw blade creating a choking smoke, but I did remember to keep and fix the strips in order so that the grain matched, and the chatoyancy shows up ok. Susan, the receptionist at the desk, was in charge of the Telex machine (remember them?) - the bulbous plastic lump in the right background. Let into the desk to hold paperclips and the like is half a teak salad bowl from Parsons Restaurant, now Sophie's Bar. My first workshop was in the Mews behind it