Arthur W. Simpson (The Handicrafts, Kendal): Arthur W. Simpson and his Kendal based furniture making company 'The Handicrafts' was a renowned arts and crafts maker associated with very high quality hand crafted furniture, who worked with by members of the Artworker's Guild, such as Voysey and Baillie-Scott. Today, items of Simpson furniture are hard to find and avidly collected. Materials, workmanship and design are always of the highest quality

Mahogany: Mahogany has traditionally ranked among the finest cabinet woods and is exceptionally stable and clear with a natural luster

The Arts & Crafts Lakes School was a development of the Arts and Craft Cotswold School. The most significant designers and makers were Arthur Simpson, in Kendal, Stanley Webb Davies at Windermere and the Keswick School of Industrial Arts. Peter Hall of Staveley still produces furniture in this tradition. The Lakes School maintained the ideals with its simple lines, attention to the finest of details, the use of beautiful locally materials and the focus traditional tools and techniques. In fact Stanley Webb Davies' workshop didn't use any power tools at all, even to cut logs from timber!The dominant material was English Oak and typical decorative details often include exposed joints and subtle carved details