Heal & Co. Oak Cupboard - Compact Storage Solution

• Oak - Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.
  
  Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,
  
  Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.
  
  Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.
• Heal & Co. - Heal & Co. was established in London 1810 as a feather dressing factory by John Harris Heal, and in 1818 opened a store in Tottenham Court Road trading as general furnishers.
  
  The business expanded and by the time John Harris Heal's great grandson, Ambrose Heal (1872-1959) joined in 1893, it was one of the largest stores in London.
  
  Ambrose Heal published a catalogue entitled 'Heal's Plain Oak Furniture' in 1898 displaying oak furniture in a cheaper Arts & Crafts style enhanced by ebony and pewter decoration with the oak sometimes darkened by smoking.
  
  The business stayed with the family until 1983 when it was purchased by designer and businessman Sir Terence Conran, and became part of the Storehouse Group. The recession in the late 1980s led to a management buyout which revitalised the company. There was a further change in ownership in 2001 when the business was acquired by Wittington Investments Limited, Heals is still trading from Totenham Court Road at the present time.
  
  The best known member of the Heal family is Ambrose Heal (1872-1959) who was an important patron of the Arts & Crafts movement.
  
  He joined the firm in 1893 and extended its business to include the full range of interior furnishings. he favoured simple well designed furniture that appealed to the emerging middle classes.
  
  He supported upcoming Arts & Crafts designers and co-founded the Design & Industries Association in 1915, which campaigned for "Fitness for Purpose" in industrial production

This item has been included into following indexes:

• cabinets, material - oak 552
• Heal & Son. (England) - furniture designers and makers (Britain) 14