Exquisite Louis XVI English Style Expanding Mahogany &.Leather Top Desk

Renowned as one of the world’s finest luxury furniture brands, Theodore Alexander designs and produces handcrafted, high-quality pieces that are not only functional but beautiful and original.

Theodore Alexander was founded in 1996 by famed British curator, designer and entrepreneur Paul Maitland-Smith. From an early age, Maitland-Smith was a keen collector of antiques, leading to his work as a London-based antique dealer in the 1950s.

During the 1970s, Maitland-Smith lived in Southeast Asia, where he began his production of Chippendale-style chairs. He later focused on manufacturing reproduction furniture and decorative objects using materials such as porcelain, bronze, brass, leather, lacquer and shagreen. To produce his intricate designs, Maitland-Smith taught local craftspeople a range of techniques, including gilding, marquetry, inlay, reverse-painted glass and lost wax brass casting. In 2019, Maitland-Smith was inducted into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame.

Theodore Alexander has an extensive collection of designs reflecting styles spanning from Regency to mid-century modern. Among its most popular pieces are dining room tables, consoles, side tables, end tables, coffee tables and armchairs, each produced with exquisite finishes and details. Theodore Alexander’s Living History collection includes pieces like hardwood cabinets, chests of drawers and a rare authorized copy of a Thomas Chippendale library bookcase from Princess Diana’s childhood home, the Althorp Estate.

Theodore Alexander’s furniture remains highly sought after by interior designers and luxury furniture collectors worldwide. Its pieces have been featured in leading publications, including Architectural Digest and Florida Design magazine.

On 1stDibs, discover vintage and contemporary Theodore Alexander tables, case pieces, storage cabinets, seating and more.

The eclectic furnishings of Maitland-Smith celebrate artisan skills in an age of machines. Hand-carved woodwork, inlaid marquetry, painted detailing, gilding and lost wax casting lend the company’s decorative accents an artistic flair. Focused on pieces that add a dynamic flourish to an interior by incorporating tactile materials like leather, seashell inlays and crushed eggshell, the manufacturer draws inspiration across centuries, from the curvy forms of the Louis XV period to the geometric angles of mid-century modernism.

Paul Maitland-Smith established the company in Hong Kong in 1979, after getting his start in London in the 1950s as an antique dealer who also sold reproduction furniture, something that would become a Maitland-Smith specialty. The manufacturer’s early reproductions of 17th- and 18th-century furniture included Chippendale dining chairs, and soon afterward, Maitland-Smith expanded into a range of decorative designs that often exuded a whimsical spirit, whether a coffee table shaped like a stack of books or a pair of decorative obelisks. Maitland-Smith’s signature sculptural table lamps in particular show off this playful sensibility, with one balancing a pen-shell shade on a monkey’s tail and another taking on the form of a miniature hot-air balloon.

Since its founding, Maitland-Smith’s sourcing has been based in Asia, and although Paul Maitland-Smith later sold the company that still bears his name and is now headquartered in North Carolina, the brand’s furnishings are still largely made in Cebu, Philippines.

Today, Maitland-Smith continues to innovate on its finely crafted offerings by collaborating with contemporary designers and studios such as Tony Duquette Studios (founded by set and costume designer Tony Duquette in 1941), Celerie Kemble and painter and textile designer Susan Hable Smith.

Find a wide range of Maitland-Smith furniture for sale on 1stDibs.