Roy Keegan, Arawak’s owner and buyer has maintained a strong working relationship with the Necker Island management team for well over 10+ years.

He has worked with the Island’s management and interior design teams on multiple renovations, re-builds and extensions during this time, both in terms of large, custom furniture, fixture and fitting interior and exterior projects, as well as providing extensive support to provide off-the-shelf products and solutions from the Arawak warehouse whenever required.

The Necker team contacted Roy just after hurricanes Irma and Maria decimated the island.  They had a special project that they knew Roy could deliver on:  The rebuild of the Necker Island crocodile dining table, which had been an iconic furniture piece installed on the island since it was originally developed.

Necker Island was planning to re-open to guests in February 2019, and the brief was that the Island could not re-open without this iconic piece of furniture being re-built and put back in pride of place next to the pool area. The pressure was on!

Roy visited Necker and spent a day measuring, evaluating and photographing the original table, which seated 20-guests. The new crocodile table was to increase in size and seating to 50-guests with matching chairs, together with two matching 9-foot crocodile buffet tables.

The original table rested on six carved lava stone pedestals, and those would also be required as the original ones had been broken during the hurricanes.

Roy went to work immediately.  The first task was to source three pieces of wood, all from the same tree.  Both Bali and Java were scoured and the ideal pieces, were found and commenced the drying process. Merbau was chosen because it is a high-quality hardwood to withstand the challenging conditions of the British Virgin Islands.

Roy then travelled to Bali to oversee the entire process of design, carving, finishing and shipping of the pieces.  The three slabs were first joined and Roy began to apply the chalk design of the crocodile to the wood. Once this was completed, the carving began.  This took 6-weeks including the final sanding and staining process.  Roy visited daily to ensure all was going to plan.

Finally once completed, frames for each piece were built ready for the 20-foot container to be safely packed and shipped to the BVI.

Upon arrival in the BVI, Roy’s team managed the paperwork, port clearance, customs inspection process and transportation to the Island with over 20 people assisted in moving each section and putting the tables in place next to the pool on Necker Island.

For more information see: www.virginlimitededition.com/en/necker-island