Showpiece tables for a New York family

When the New York fund manager Jonathan Auerbach wanted two sets of tables and chairs for his home, he turned to Candia Lutyens, the granddaughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of Britain’s greatest architects and designers. Candia keeps Sir Edwin’s designs alive for selected clients around the world, and we create the furniture for her.

The first piece was for the dining room. Jonathan wanted an extendable table that would be suitable for everything from a small family meal to a larger gathering of business contacts – 16 chairs in total.

Using original Lutyens drawings, we created this beautiful viceroy table with a sapele base and a madrona burr top. There wasn’t a Lutyens chair to match this specific design, so we created something complementary ourselves, again using sapele and incorporating an intricate, hand-carved rope motif. There were also two styles of chair within the set: a side chair and a carver chair, the latter featuring arm rests and additional rope effects.

Secondly, for the large bay window of his home office, Jonathan asked us to create this extraordinary octagonal table in American black walnut, with six chairs precisely angled to fit perfectly beneath. Note the intricate detailing of the hand-carved diamond patterns – it’s a beautiful piece of furniture around which to work or gather for a conversation.

Jonathan Auerbach: “The craftsmanship of Michael Mancini and his 1718 team was something to marvel at. The service was first class, as they led me through every step of the process, and the attention to detail of the finished pieces is something I appreciate every day.”