Wales & Wales are furniture designers with over 30 years experience. Working with manufacturers, retailers, architects and individual private clients internationally, they aspire to produce timeless, intelligent design, principally, though far from exclusively in wood. That’s a pretty good starting point for me.
I have been meaning to post about Wales & Wales for about two years when I saw their work for Meta (a Mallett company) in Milan during the annual furniture fair. That was so long ago, but I remember that event very well. The Prototypes on guitar and vocals, furniture on pallets and dust sheets, me on Champagne and conversation.
They designed the Glissade desk for Meta, handcrafted by Gary Tuddenham at the Edward Barnsley Workshop.
Rod & Alison Wales created “an icon of understated elegant design” as Meta put it in a release. An elegant, graceful writing desk in 5,000 year old Bog Oak, whose entire top slides sideways to reveal a hidden well, lined with parchment-coloured Moroccan leather. Atop the desk sits a Chinese yellow lacquer pen box, covered by an extension of Bog Oak.
Glissade is a tribute to 18th century cabinet makers who used writing desks to display the refinement of their skills. The careful matching of the grain shows a balance and consistency of tone, which is only matched by the soft curves flowing in and out of the top, both just as delicate to attain.
That is a beautiful looking thing. I wish I could be that good at carpentry. I love working with trees but can only work with living ones