Ian Laval -- Classic English furniture hand-made to individual designs

Home page Gallery of recent work Workshop Wood Design Contact

Pedestal desk in fumed English oak with sawn English oak burr veneers.

Gateleg dining table and chairs in fumed English oak.

Twin pedestal dining table and chairs in fumed English oak. Sycamore inlay.

Writing bureau in natural brown English oak with matched veneers of sawn brown oak burr.

Wrtiting bureau in cherry with sawn cherry crotch and burr elm veneers.

Writing bureau in fumed English oak with sawn oak burr veneers and
sycamore inlay.

Writing bureau in fumed English oak with sawn oak burr veneers.

English walnut bureau with sawn walnut crotch veneers and Sterling silver
handles.

Writing table in curly ash with walnut cockbeads and inlay.

Hall table in English oak with sawn oak crotch veneer and sycamore inlay.

Cherry music stand with burr elm veneers inlay and bog oak
spindles.

Writing table in English oak with sawn oak crotch veneer and holly inlay.

Cherry corner cabinet and corner table. Sawn elm burr veneer
and bok oak inlay.

Oak dressing table and stool. Sawn oak crotch veneers and holy inlay.
Mirror framed in sycamore.

Oak sideboard. Sycamore inlay.

Walnut mirror cabinet.

Wych-elm low table with sawn elm burr veneer and bog oak inlay.

Brown oak hall table with inlays of book-matched sawn oak burr and sawn oak
crotch veneers. Sycamore and bog oak inlays.

Walnut long-case clock.

Cherry bow-front corner cabinet.

Oak bed.

Walnut box presented to HRH Queen Elizabeth to mark the 800th anniversary of Carlisle Cathedral, UK.

                 Ian Laval
                 FURNITUREMAKER
                   Brentwood Bay,
                  Vancouver Island,
              British Columbia, Canada

Ian laval's work as a furniture designer and maker has devolved from an intense interest in the tree and the great variety of material it produces. He has insisted on being involved in all the stages of processing of his wood, from felling, quarter-sawing, air-drying and kiln-drying to careful selection of each piece to fit the job it is required to do in traditional, hand-made furnituremaking.

He spent 29 years in England in a constant process of learning before moving to Western Canada where he now has a workshop at Brentwood Bay, just north of Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
The pieces on this page represent some of Ian Laval's work at Meadowbank Farm, Curthwaite, Cumbria in northern England between 1970 and 1999. All of his timber came from trees in the surrounding countryside, mostly felled and all sawn by Ian Laval himself. Much of his work was in English oak, with a variety of other native species including walnut, yew, cherry, wych-elm, sycamore, ash, apple, pear etc. He is now discovering the working properties of some of the Pacific Northwest's native species, including Douglas fir, cedar, the wild and beautiful Garry oak of Vancouver Island and the often beautifully-quilted Pacific variety of maple.