Our Story

Laurel Crown’s story began with a passion for solid wood furniture and the astounding beauty of design found in Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director.

Peter Lok, an architect by trade, fell in love with the Chippendale style while working on Jakarta’s lavish Mercantile Club. The beauty of antique design, particularly of the club’s Chippendale chairs, left a lasting impression on Peter. He went out and bought a copy of The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director and began hand-drafting the designs within. From that point on all Peter wanted to do was design and build beautiful, handcrafted furniture.

Pursuing this dream, Peter left his position as Principal Architect and CEO of Design Office in 1989 and co-founded one of the first and largest antique reproduction furniture companies in Indonesia; the vision was to export these timeless furniture designs worldwide. Just one year later, Laurel Crown was born; established in San Francisco, California in 1990, inside the historic Baker & Hamilton building. Appropriately, one of the first designs Laurel Crown produced that year was the ball and claw Chippendale chair; its stately frame, refined carving work, and rich mahogany wood have come to represent everything we love about our brand.

Today, Laurel Crown makes more than just Chippendales. Today Laurel Crown also custom designs and custom builds furniture for our clients; all the while maintaining our principles of good design, quality materials, and exceptional craftsmanship. Peter still works personally on every custom furniture project and we still craft every Laurel Crown piece by hand from solid hardwoods, just as we did over three decades ago.