Working on this table I look back over the 20 years I had been director of a Waste Management company. Not a job I had picked when I left school, but who really knows what occupation is going to pay the bills when leaving school?

i was going to be an Astronaut

At school I demanded I was going to be an Astronaut, but when that wasnt achievable, an electrician, then fate had steered me in another direction and i became an Entreprenuer!
Having your own business has its own rewards, upsets and responsibilities: but the goals, achievements and direction are your own. It was being in the waste business so long that gave me ideas for making use of our mountains of unwanted things. Now i set upon restoring and upcycling furniture in my own unique way.

E Gomme Ltd, famously known as G-Plan

This English made Coffee Table came to me via a second hand furniture shop in Paignton Devon. It was originally made in the 1950s by E Gomme Ltd, famously known as G-Plan, who at the time made very high quality Danish style furniture from their Birch premises at High Wycombe in the glorious royal county of Buckinghamshire.

high-quality arts and craft furniture

This group of buildings was originally owned by Wm Birch Limited, manufacturers of high-quality arts and craft furniture. The three-storey factory was newly built in 1901 with a later four-storey range built fronting at Leigh Street in 1913 by Architect Thomas Thurlow. Time marches on and so production finished sometime in the 1990s: the site now has been developed for offices and mixed commercial use.

With this heritage in mind I want to reveal the quality of the fine workmanship found in the jointing and the use of different timbers to great effect in the top.

You realise the quality of materials

I have stripped off the layer of varnish to show the natural bare wood(pic), which i have now polished with beeswax.
The base is jointed with mortice and tenons, and originally painted with a black gloss that I have brought up to date with several coats of Blue Teal, sanded and polished.

You realise the quality of materials used when you see the solid brass adjustable feet and leg caps, which i have polished with brass cleaner.

reflecting Mid Century ideals

I love this piece and I am really impressed with the level of quality in its original manufacture. Growing up in the 80s this style of furniture went out of fashion in the UK, to be replaced by Scandinavian Pine. Fashions change and the classic simplicity of this style is back! reflecting Mid Century ideals of technology, the Atomic Age and the Space Race.

This item can be bought at http://www.used2bee.com/Gplan_Mid_Century_Table_Torquay_p/fh1st-gp.htm
Or from our ETSY page at https://www.etsy.com/listing/183810746/g-plan-british-1950s-upcycled-coffee