Trevor Chinn & Ray Leigh for Gordon Russell GR Series 1 Rosewood Executive Desk, c.1970

Description

A remarkable GR Series 1 executive desk designed by Trevor Chinn and Ray Leigh for Gordon Russell, dating from around 1970–71.

Part of Gordon Russell's Prestige range of office furniture, the desk combines a large rosewood writing surface with a separate return cabinet, creating an unusually architectural L-shaped arrangement.

The rosewood is particularly good. Across the substantial desktop the veneer has been carefully selected and laid to create a beautifully balanced repeating grain, with deep chocolate figuring running through the warmer brown ground. The return is similarly finished in rosewood, with two sliding doors concealing useful storage.

Two drawers are suspended beneath the opposite side of the desk, while slender chromium-plated loop legs support both sections. Chrome and rosewood handles and black panels complete the design.

It is a striking piece of British modernism. There is something almost architectural about it, particularly when viewed from the front, where the heavy horizontal plane of the rosewood top appears to float above the much lighter chrome structure.

The GR Series 1 was designed for executive offices, boardrooms and conference settings and represented the more prestigious end of Gordon Russell's commercial furniture production. Surviving examples are relatively uncommon, particularly in this large return configuration.

An almost identical GR Series 1 return desk was recorded with provenance stating that it had been purchased directly from Gordon Russell Furniture for a family business around 1971. Other examples of the range have subsequently appeared through specialist design auctions and dealers.

A substantial and increasingly collectable piece of post-war British furniture, and one of the more ambitious Gordon Russell designs we have had at Brickhouse.

Dimensions

Height: 73cm x Depth: 91cm x Width: 214cm
Sideboard Length: 163cm