Antique Art Deco Oak Tambour Filing Office Cabinet, c.1930

A wonderfully characterful English oak tambour filing cabinet dating from around 1930, combining the practical ingenuity of early office furniture with the clean, restrained lines associated with the interwar period.

Constructed principally in oak, the cabinet has a tall, narrow form with particularly attractive figuring visible across the top and side panels. The front is dominated by its original slatted tambour shutter, formed from numerous narrow rounded oak strips which roll neatly upwards into the cabinet. The tambour is operated by its shaped wooden handle and allows the entire internal storage area to be accessed without the space required by conventional hinged doors.

Opening the shutter reveals an interesting fitted interior comprising a series of horizontal wooden rails and angled side supports. These appear to have been designed to accommodate files, documents or removable filing components, reflecting the increasingly organised and mechanised office environment of the early twentieth century.

Below is a substantial full-width storage drawer, again retaining its shaped wooden handle. The restrained design, gently rounded mouldings and absence of excessive ornament give the cabinet a distinctly transitional character between late Edwardian office furniture and the more functional Art Deco / interwar aesthetic of the 1920s and 1930s.

The oak has developed a lovely deep honey-brown colour with darker areas around the mouldings and tambour. Surface marks, rubbing and variations in colour remain consistent with age and working use and give the cabinet precisely the sort of authentic appearance desirable in antique office furniture.

At just 402 mm wide and 310 mm deep, this is an exceptionally useful little piece. It would make an unusual bedside cabinet, home-office filing cabinet, bathroom or kitchen storage cupboard, record storage cabinet or characterful occasional cabinet, while retaining its appeal to collectors of vintage office and industrial furniture.

A charming and increasingly difficult-to-find example of compact early twentieth-century office furniture, with the tambour front providing both visual interest and a fascinating reminder of pre-digital working life.

Dimensions:
Height: 765 mm / 30.1 in
Width: 402 mm / 15.8 in
Depth: 310 mm / 12.2 in

Stock No. 2266