Amid the glamour and glitz in the tents at Dubai Design Week last November, one piece stood out. A timber bench spiralled above the fray, seemingly extruded from a simple spindle seat. At once folly and furniture, the Preservation bench by a new South African studio called Houtlander was like a beacon signalling a resurgence of interest in timber furniture.

A few weeks later at Design Miami, the most compelling vintage offering was not mid-century modern, but a collection of wooden Shaker furniture from the middle of the 17th century on the stand of established New York dealer John Keith Russell Antiques.