French Side Table in Carved Teak - Ivory with Rose Garland Drawers

Fitting a lock into a drawer is straightforward when the drawer front is flat. Into a serpentine front carved with roses, it is a small piece of surgery.

The lock body has to sit inside the thickness of the front, behind the escutcheon, with its bolt shooting upward into the carcass rail above. That means cutting a rectangular pocket into a piece of timber that is curving in one direction, carved in relief on the outside, and no thicker at the centre than it needs to be for the shaping.

So the pocket is cut first - before any carving, while the front is still a shaped blank and its thickness is known and constant. The keyhole is bored at the same time, from the outside in, so it enters the pocket square rather than at an angle.

Only then does the carving begin. The cartouche is worked around the keyhole, and the carver has to model into a surface with a hole in the middle of it and a void directly behind - which means no chisel can be driven downward at that point, because there is nothing underneath to support the cut. Every stroke near the escutcheon is taken sideways, across the grain, with the tool almost flat.

The brass escutcheon goes in last and covers the entry. What it also covers is the one part of the carving where the carver had no timber to work against.

Material: Solid teak throughout - carcass, both drawer boxes and shaped fronts, top, legs and carved mounts. No veneer over engineered board.

Construction: Serpentine drawer fronts shaped from solid stock, lock pockets cut before carving, hand-carved rose garlands and cartouches, carved rose corner clusters worked onto the leg knees, carved basket apron, cabriole legs with scrolled toes.

Storage: Two lockable drawers with brass escutcheons and keys. Counts, depths, locks and internal fittings are configurable.

Finish: Warm ivory with carving in the same tone, as photographed. Any tone or gilding can be specified.

Height: Built to the bed or chair it stands beside rather than to a standard.

Dimensions: Custom sizes made to order - final measurements confirmed in writing before production.

Available: Singly or as a matched pair.

Made: Handcrafted Indian luxury, produced to order by master Indian artisans.

Keys are the first thing lost on a delivery day, so both are tagged, bagged and packed in a labelled envelope fixed inside the crate rather than left in the locks.

Both drawers are removed, wrapped individually and labelled to their openings, so nothing can run out and strike a carved front in transit.

The carcass is wrapped in a soft non-abrasive layer laid directly onto the ivory finish, then given contoured foam that follows the serpentine front continuously - a curved face has no flat area to rest against.

The carved rose clusters at the front corners and the basket at the centre of the apron stand proudest and are bridged rather than pressed, with rigid guards over each cluster.

Every cabriole leg is sleeved along its sweep with a guard over the scrolled toe. The table then goes into a rigid outer carton braced internally. Ordered as a pair, each is crated separately. Dent-free arrival is guaranteed.

Free delivery is included anywhere in India, with no distance surcharge and nothing added at the end. Metros, tier-two cities and smaller towns are served on the same terms, and a pair ships on the same free terms as a single table.

Production begins once your dimensions - bed or chair height included - drawer layout, locks, carving density and finish are confirmed in writing. Lock pockets are cut before carving, so the sequence is fixed; we give you an honest timeline then and keep you updated as the piece moves through shaping, carving, fitting and finishing.

We dispatch through carriers experienced with carved solid wood furniture, and send tracking details as soon as it leaves us.

On arrival our team brings the table in, sets both drawers into their marked openings, hands over the keys, checks the locks turn and the drawers run cleanly, and removes all packaging. Dent-free arrival is guaranteed.

The solid teak frame and joinery carry a 20-year warranty - the carcass, both drawer boxes and their shaped fronts, every leg joint and the carved mounts.

The locks are covered within that, and the reason they will still work in twenty years is where the pocket was cut. Because it is machined into the front while the blank is still a known constant thickness, the timber left around the lock body is even on all sides rather than thin at one edge - which is what causes a lock housing to split on a shaped front cut carelessly.

The serpentine fronts are shaped from solid teak rather than bent and faced, so nothing can lift along the curve.

The teak carries a lifetime warranty against termite damage for as long as you own the piece, from the oils in the timber rather than the paint over them.

If anything covered needs attention, send us your order details and photographs and our artisans will handle the repair or replacement.