Commode painted oak, walnut or fruitwoods, with carved decoration, typical of French provincial furniture. In the English-speaking world, "commode" passed into cabinet-makers' parlance in London by the mid-eighteenth century to describe chests of drawers with gracefully curved fronts, and sometimes with shaped sides as well, perceived as being in the "French" taste. Thomas Chippendale employed the term "French Commode Tables" to describe designs in "The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Director" (1753), and Ince and Mayhew illustrated a "Commode Chest of drawers", plate xliii, in their "Universal System of Household Furniture", 1759–62. John Gloag notes that "Commode" expanded to describe any piece of
Luke Hughes (furniture designer) the Royal Geographical Society. Since 1994, he has been a Freeman of the City of London, and, since 2007, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, and, since 1995-2011, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers and First Assistant in 2008. He remains a member of the Art Workers Guild (since 1986), the Alpine Club and the Garrick Club (since 1990). As a mountaineer, he has scaled the North Face of the Eiger (September 1986), climbed within 100m of the summit of Everest (May 1988), and made expeditions to Greenland (July 1992). Luke Hughes (furniture designer) Luke