As part of a comprehensive restoration project at Hampton Court Palace – to mark the 500th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII – we collaborated with the exhibition designer Karl Abeyasekera of Studio Associates and Della Cooper, creative and design manager at the Historic Royal Palaces, to design furniture and AV displays for the recreated Council Chamber. We also produced trestle tables with a Tudor flavour for use in the body of the Great Hall and the dais on which Henry and his queens must once have sat. We based our tables – which incorporated light weight, quick-release tabletops to improve portability – on original furniture designs found on Henry’s flagship, the Mary Rose.