The Chair Course

I always think of the chair course as a bit of an oddity in my calendar, as it is the one course which is really taking an existing, traditional design, to handmade furniture in Devon and pretty much replicating it. On all my courses I always encourage individuality and experimentation, and on most courses people are guided through developing their own designs. The chair course though, is limited by the constraints of the design - taller or shorter, more or less recline, back legs converging or diverging, or parallel - ladder-back, lath-back or spindle back, or something wild and extraordinary - using branches or whatever. But the fact remains, it is a simple country chair.

My first chair. I love the rimples in the two book-matched laths, and the comfortable dimple where the grain has swerved around a knot in the farthest back leg. It is not perfect, but it is honest, and beautiful.

So why do I run this particular course?

This course is the closest to “pure” green wood furniture making you can get. With no slabs of wood that are machined. Everything is split and shaved, emphasising the care that goes into handmade furniture. Starting with about a meter of small diameter, “coppiced” tree, which is honestly worked using nothing more than effort and skill. Many people use a pole-lathe in the production of these chairs. I do not, as what has always appealed to me about working with and creating green wood furniture is the subtle nuances of grain, and the facets left by the draw-knife. I’ve always felt one of the pleasures of exploring old furniture is discovering the marks left by the craftsmen, reading the signs of the methods used. But also, in this world of smooth edges and machine-flat surfaces there is something so satisfying about touching something that feels like it was part of a tree, and which has been worked using sharp tools. Not sanded to a uniform, dull lifeless surface. There is an authenticity to work that has no residue of a machine or grit ANYWHERE on its surface honouring every piece of sustainable wooden furniture.

The design itself - a simple frame with a woven corded seat is extremely comfortable, extremely light, tactile and beautiful to behold. I am often amazed at the lumbering weight of so many machine made chairs. I love that I can pick up a chair in one hand (one finger in fact), and carry it outside to enjoy a comfortable tea break. This is something that is getting ever more important, the older I get!

The whole process of harvesting the material in such a sustainable and regenerative way pleases me greatly. The journey of most timber destined for use in furniture is from forest to yard, to auction, to sawmill, to kiln, to stockist, to maker. I travel to my local woodsman and fill my van with a load of freshly cut ash to take straight to the workshop. This is young wood, probably between 25 and 30 years old. Its roots remain the the ground. Next year it will be sprouting from the stump, growing strongly from its well-established root base. In my yard the selected piece lies, in the shade, until it is ready to be turned into a chair. All the off-cuts, the knotty bits, the trimmed off bits, the shavings - all are used. Either as firewood, or by local people for Raku firing, for animal bedding, for paths and mulch, or, come winter, for lighting and fueling my wood-burner, either in the workshop, or at home. Nothing is wasted.

I love this way of working, it feels right to me, and it makes sense. Click here to see booking details for the chair course.

View more courses here or buy other handmade furniture from Devon here, to support sustainable workmanship.