Mr. Smith goes to England.

MR. SMITH GOES TO ENGLAND

Call it a dream assignment. George Smith does. In fact, when Smith, who is director of design at Hekman Furniture, Grand Rapids, got the call to go to England to examine antique furniture belonging to the heirs of English novelist Charles Dickens, he was sure he was dreaming. Smith was hospitalized at the time, recovering from surgery, when Dan Henslee, Hekman president, telephoned and asked him to make the trip to Spofforth in North Yorkshire, England.

The call resulted from a meeting between Henslee and Jeanne-Marie Dickens, wife of the author's great-great-grandson and president of Charles Dickens Heritage Ltd. Hekman was subsequently licensed by the Heritage as the exclusive manufacturer and worldwide distributor of The Charles Dickens Collection. Hekman, a subsidiary of Howard Miller Clock, introduced the 11-piece collection in April at High Point. Two additional pieces were shown in October.

But back in December 1990, Smith's visit was tentative - to see about the possibility of reproducing copies or adaptations of antiques in use in the home of Christopher Charles and Jeanne-Marie Dickens.

"Much of the furniture was in terrible condition," Smith said. Dickens' bookcase, built into his home at Gad's Hill Place in Kent, had been dismantled and stored in a barn. Solid lumber had cracked and split. Tops had buckled. "But the pieces still were worth a fortune. The Dickenses could sell them and never work again, but they won't," Smith said. "They'll hand them down and keep them in the family."

Staying authentic - and

marketable

Smith was in England only one week. He settled into an apartment above the garage at the 700-year-old rectory the Dickenses call home, removed his bandages and began to sketch. "I drew and slept, drew and slept," he recalled. He sketched in full detail more than a dozen pieces of furniture.

While he was in England, it was the Christmas season. Children would gather outside, holding lighted candles and singing carols. During a storm, the rectory lost its power and Smith worked by candlelight. "The entire experience was like walking backwards in time," he said.

As Smith drew, he noted ideas for making the furniture more marketable: fancy face veneers, the use of lumber core, adding borders and trim. "I knew that we wouldn't be able to sell |as-is' copies," he said. "For instance, a double bonnet secretary had wood doors and shelves. I suggested beveled glass doors and side panels and glass shelves because that's what people want.

"As I came to know Mrs. Dickens, I realized she was not attempting to establish another Williamsburg or Wintherthur foundation. She didn't insist upon preserving every little detail. With her approval, I made certain changes to the designs," Smith said, "but I kept all the proportions the same. We tried to stay as authentic as we possibly could, and still be able to sell furniture.

"I took all the measurements myself, so they are all true. But each piece was restyled. These are copies, but I didn't copy details that were not useful."

Function and finishing

The key to the collection is function. "Each piece has a function," Smith said. "I didn't make that up." But new pizazz comes from the select veneers of feather crotch mahogany, fine-grained English yew, cluster maple burl and olive ash burl and the bands of zebrawood, prima vera and yew wood Hekman uses in borders and trim.

The beautiful finishes are the result of Hekman's multi-step pallet process which includes water bath/stain, wash coat, and multiple sealers and glazings. "We don't do padding," Smith said. "We get our patina the hard way - with a tremendous amount of hand rubbing. Hekman is a hands-on plant."

|Nothing is left to chance'

The engineering department works from full-scale detail drawings. "Nothing is left to chance," Smith said. "You can't ask an engineer to interpret a sketch or imagine what a designer has in mind. Every detail is specified, i.e., for drawers: size of the opening, dimensions of fronts, sides, backs, bottoms and rails. The lower section of the double bonnet secretary, for example, has 120 pieces to be engineered. That's where the ball game is won." Smith added that he learned to make full-scale details from his long-time mentor - another Grand Rapids-reared designer - Ray Sobota.

Smith grew up in the furniture business. He learned cabinetmaking from his father, who learned from his father. He believes designers should know machine capabilities. "A good designer knows what you can cut on a band saw, how high the fence can be raised, the collar diameter on a router to get minimum shape on a round.

"But you can get so involved with engineering that it stifles creativity," he said. "Balancing the two is a daily battle for me. It is a real challenge to create a beautiful thing and get it through the manufacturing process.

"I love to be creative, but if I designed exactly what I want, I'd be gone. I have to design what the dealers expect from Hekman. I have to know the dealers and what they want. If I show a traditional design to a Miami dealer, he'll say, |Get that out of here.' He wants faux marble and glass top tables."

It started with a desk

Replicas of the Georgian-style pedestal desk, where Dickens wrote three novels, and his three-splat bow chair with a cane seat and turned legs are the nucleus of the collection. The slant-top desk, an exact reproduction, is made of mahogany solids and veneers with locking drawers. The oldest of the family's original heirlooms, it was built for Charles Dickens in 1858. The author himself designed the sloped writing surface, which was copied in later desks referred to as Dickensian.

Each Hekman reproduction desk bears a numbered plate and will be registered to the owner. Each desk and chair will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Christopher and Jeanne-Marie Dickens.

The collection also includes a drop-leaf tea table in book-matched mahogany; collector's chest in maple solids with olive ash burl; side chair with Queen Anne leg and pad foot; Louis Phillipe-style secretary with a cushion drawer; library or writing table of crotch mahogany and zebrawood; and William and Mary chest-on-stand in walnut solids with maple burl drawer fronts. A sideboard of English yew with cherry solids and crotch mahogany overlay and an occasional table with a leather top were October introductions.

Launching the licensing venture, Hekman's first in 69 years of operation, has been exciting and challenging, according to Henslee. He said the collection appeals equally to Dickens fans, to admirers of historic reproductions and to people who just appreciate good design. Royalties paid to the Dickens Heritage will benefit children's charities.

PHOTO : For Hekman's new Charles Dickens collection, George J. Smith, ASFD, sketched the heirloom furniture in this 700-year-old rectory in Spofforth, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England - the home of Christopher and Jeanne-Marie Dickens.

PHOTO : A library table/writing desk pairs highly-figured crotch mahogany with a band of zebrawood. Carved rosettes decorate its apron and a modified egg-and-dart moulding trims the base.

PHOTO : The original table in the Dickens' family home.

PHOTO : Back in Grand Rapids, Smith checks the fit of a drawer in a library table at the white wood stage.

PHOTO : Smith is shown with the reproduction desk and chair from Hekman Furniture Co.'s Charles Dickens collection. The desk and chair are exact copies of those used by Dickens from 1858 until his death in 1870, and where he wrote "Great Expectations" and "A Tale of Two Cities."

PHOTO : When a winter storm left the Dickens' home without electricity, Smith carried on his work by candlelight.

PHOTO : Three drawers are set into the base of a Louis Phillipe-style secretary. Eleven drawers are in the upper cabinet, behind doors. Additional drawers, including a cushion drawer, are hidden.

PHOTO : Thirteen drawers with jewel-box quality cluster maple burl fronts and cast brass hardware are featured in this William and Mary chest-on-stand in walnut solids.

PHOTO : The original William and Mary chest-on-stand chez Dickens.