Creative Seating - green wood furniture making

I have been running the Creative Seating Course now for 10 years - it is one of my proudest achievements. It is a testament to the versatility of the technique of green wood furniture making that people have consistently exceeding their expectations, taking away beautiful, heirloom pieces.

When I trained as a fine furniture maker I loved the process of making furniture, but wasn’t making pieces that I really loved - that felt like an adequate expression of who I was, my values, my aesthetics. It took many years before I had my epiphany, on a chair making course run my the renowned green woodworker, Mike Abbott. Returning from his course, filled with ideas of combining the two styles of working, I set about building the business I run today. The combination of approaches - fine furniture with green woodworking, is fairly unique to me. My interest in design, in developing a sustainable, meaningful practice, my refusal to see anything “luddite” about green wood furniture making, gives this course a unique edge over other furniture courses. With a well equipped, powered workshop we can explore jig making, enabling us to work with accuracy when needed, and in a free-flowing, organic way at others.

Starting from locally sourced, freshly cut trees, participants go on a journey through designing and making. If you have any questions about whether this course is suitable for you, please do contact me.

This year, 2023 the course starts on the 22nd of April at my workshop in South Devon. Join us if you can!

A version of this course also takes place in the mountains of Central Portugal, at the beautiful Cerdeira Home for Creativity every year.