Robert Heritage Teak Sideboard for Archie Shine Circa 1960

Robert Heritage Teak Sideboard for Archie Shine Circa 1960

Magnificent mid century design Robert Heritage for Archie Shine long six door teak sideboard designed by 1960s, the long rectangular top over six cupboard doors with three internal drawers to one side and a felt lined cutlery tray at the top, probably one of Robert Heritages best designs of the period, like so many Archie Shine pieces its not labelled but its a known design.  Archie Shine pieces were very rarely labelled as they were mainly sold through exclusive high end retailers like Harrods of London and Heals who didn’t like to sell pieces that were labelled by their manufacturers.

Background:
Robert Heritage was one of the top British furniture furniture designers of the mid 20th century . His collaboration with the high end maker Archie Shine carried on for many years , but he also designed pieces for many other less expensive British makers from the mid 1950s until well into the 1970s as well as being a highly influential lecturer and professor of furniture design . The great thing about Robert Heritage is that he came up with so many totally different design features , so there is no one Heritage look . He definitely was not a ” one trick pony ” as the variation in designs on sideboards alone is tremendous, yet all manage to look modern clean and contemporary even 50 or 60 years after they were designed .

Archie Shine was passionate about the pieces his company made . If a piece wasn’t 100% right he wouldn’t sell it . He’d rather smash a piece up than have it leave his workshops with a minor problem . His standards were high , so the furniture his company made was always top quality , particularly in the 1960s when there were no financial constraints.