Black walnut cabinet by Gordon Russell, c.1929, on a chest lined with cedar with ebonised handles on block feet. Labelled 'Gordon russell Ltd'. (The Millinery Works and Jefferson Smith)

His enterprising father soon had a number of associated businesses running from the Lygon Arms. One of these was in antiques. On leaving school, Gordon Russell was not only general factotum around the hotel but also, more importantly, he became an antique dealer with particular responsibility for the furniture repair workshops, where he was quick to learn and to use his own hands. He was intrigued by local stonemasonry and building methods, with his father constructing various additions to the hotel. He got to know a great deal about antique furniture, having a particular liking for the 17th century. The colourful but shrewd dealers he met while travelling on buying expeditions taught him a lot about the furniture trade. By 1911 he started to make new designs influenced by the Cotswold School, particularly Gimson. The First World War interrupted all this and he served in the ranks, rising to Quartermaster Sergeant, before being commissioned as an officer. He saw much intensely dangerous active service at Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele but never doubted he would return. He was awarded the Military Cross before being badly wounded in the arm in 1918.
On his return, he had changed from a diffident, but observant, son into an efficient organiser and a sympathetic employer of men. The antique furniture business continued - the celebrated Bill Keil became its manager at one time - but, after a long negative experience, Russell was impatient to design and create new furniture to good standards. An exhibition in Cheltenham in 1923 was successful and he was asked to design a cafe for display at the Victoria & Albert Museum before exhibiting at Wembley in 1924. At first the firm made hand-crafted pieces very much in emulation of Gimson, winning prizes for good cabinet-making, but the mechanically-minded and practical Russell was no Arts and Crafts isolationist. From his youth he had been keen on mechanical drawings and engravings, with the Bassett-Lowke model locomotive catalogue a particular pleasure. He started to introduce some machinery to replicate certain parts. Rush-seated chairs were a standard item and steel firedogs and brassware were made. In 1924 W.H. 'Curly' Russell, no relation, started as a cabinetmaker and eventually progressed to chief designer, producing successful work for the firm.