We were once given a strict brief to design a beautiful dressing table where all the finger pulls were of an exact dimension so as not to damage the client’s finger nails!
Based at the Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour, furniture designer Davidson has a large showroom which attracts clientele from around the world. The company is often asked to design furniture for superyachts, as well as being commissioned by specialist interior designers in the superyacht world.
Richard Davidson, founder and chairman of Davidson, explains, “The design of the furniture will normally reflect the design of the boat itself. This will of course vary from traditional to very high tech so as you can imagine designs are variable. One aspect that is increasingly important is the need for furniture to not be overly heavy. This has resulted in the development of specialist materials that had originally been developed for the aerospace industry, with honeycomb panels increasingly being used for flat surfaces such as wardrobe doors and dining table tops.”
Space is at a premium on all but the very biggest and grandest of today’s mega yachts and ingenuity is required to ensure items such as dining table leaves can be stored within when not in use. Mr Davidson advises that it is the same as designing any compact space, try not to over clutter. “Lamps present a problem,” he says, “or rather the cables, and increasingly we are asked to design furniture with designated holes where we can feed cabling through to power points below so all cables are out of sight. All freestanding furniture apart from chairs need to have deck fixings to ensure the furniture all stays in place and drawers are fitted with special fitments to ensure they remain in place in turbulent weather.
“Fabulous fitted cocktail cabinets always tend to turn heads. We design not only to impress but to meet the very particular needs of our clients. We were once given a strict brief to design a beautiful dressing table where all the finger pulls were of an exact dimension so as not to damage the client’s finger nails!”
As furniture makers, Davidson works with a variety of materials, mainly woods, as well as endless different specialist lacquers and finishes. “Liquid metals are currently very popular as well as natural and faux leathers, vellum and shagreen,” says Mr Davidson. “High gloss has been the number one choice for a long time now but we are definitely seeing a move towards satin and matt finishes which are often more practical. Pale woods are popular but in sun drenched locations this can be a problem with timber changing colour due to exposure to UV rays. It is therefore often a safer option to work with darker timbers. Not everyone likes to play it safe however!”
