Ernest 'William' Gimson (1864 to 1919): An English Arts and Crafts furniture designer and architect who was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as 'the greatest of the English architect-designers'

Walnut: Walnut is truly special timber with a delicious range of brown and grey creamy colours. The amount of feature depends on where the tree was grown, the best being English with its decorative grain, deep colouring, lustre and durability. It is highly prized for high class furniture, although its high cost and scarcity mean that solid walnut is only found in the very best items

The Cotswold School was a development of the Arts and Craft Movement started largely by Ernest Gimson and the brothers Sidney and Ernest Barnsley. The furniture is instantly recognisable with its simple lines, attention to the finest of details, and use of beautiful materials. Cotswold School designs were crafted from local materials using traditional tools and techniques and with decorative details derived largely from utilitarian elements: exposed joinery, unusual panels, interesting pulls and latches crafted either from wood or from metal using traditional smithing techniques, and close attention to form as well as to wood grain and pattern. Where decorative details were added they generally took the form of traditional embellishment of the sort; the long chamfers, chip carved edge detailsThe style was embraced and developed by other designers and craftsmen including Gordon Russell, Stanley Webb Davies in Cumbria, Sid Barnsley's son Edward and Arthur Romney Green in Hampshire and Robin Nance in St Ives and Ambrose Heal are a handful of such men out of many. The best developed their own style within the established tradition