Prototype Viscount David Linley Folding Desk and Chair in Satin Birch Art Modern

View Similar Items

Eugenio Quarti desk, Chair and Trah in Style Liberty or Art Nouveau, Jugestails

Modern Stainless Steel and Glass Desk

Antiqued Wood Fold-Over Rustic Desk

Modern Painted Desk

Transitional Modern Desk

Modern Pedestal Desk

Modern French Desk

Arthur Umanoff Desk and Chair

Paul McCobb Style Mid Century Whitney Birch Desk

Modern French Desk, Light

Desk Style Art Deco in Wood and chrome, 1940, Made in Germany

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 20

Prototype Viscount David Linley Folding Desk and Chair in Satin Birch Art Modern

Name: Prototype Viscount David Linley Folding Desk and Chair in Satin Birch Art Modern
Brand: David Linley
Price: 5119.58 USD

Shop All David Linley

David Linley

Consider it the ultimate royal seal of approval: When the young Linley founder, David Linley, made a decorative box as a teenager — a project he’d crafted at Bedales School that impressed his teacher — it was proudly passed around as a cigar box at parties by the Queen Mother. Of course, the royal treatment makes a bit more sense when you consider that the Queen was simply grandmother to the future furniture designer Linley, formally David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, second earl of Snowdon, son of Princess Margaret and photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones.

Born in London, Linley was creative from an early age — a characteristic eagerly encouraged at home with his parents and at Kensington Palace with the extended family. After completing his studies in carpentry and design at Parnham House in 1982, Linley set up his first studio. Within three years he had moved to King’s Road in Chelsea and, with his friend painter and designer Matthew Rice, officially cofounded Linley, a source for luxury furniture and accessories and bespoke carpentry and millwork.

The brand was a quick success. When Linley presented its first line at Christie’s in 1985 — a collection of furniture and more called “Venetian,” which was inspired by the Italian city’s grandiose Gothic architecture — the entire lot sold out on the day of its presentation. Besides Linley the brand being a commercial success, Linley the founder was somewhat of a marvel: At the time, the designer was the first of the royal family to undertake any sort of vocational work, let alone establish their own brand.

David Linley’s furniture has become known over the years for its fine craftsmanship, detailed marquetry and inlay and use of rare and exquisite woods. His tables, seating, other furnishings and decorative objects owe consistently to traditional methods and conventions as often as they do clean modernity. The designer has long looked to Chippendale furniture as well as other styles that gained prominence during the 18th century as much as he has toward the future.

Now, in addition to its furniture, accessories and custom millwork, Linley operates an interior design business, outfitting homes (and a few cars and yachts) in the brand’s singularly chic style. And while the company’s output is marked by style, craftsmanship still comes first: “I’m a maker, not a designer,” the earl once proclaimed.

Find a collection of David Linley furniture on 1stDibs.