Welsh chairmaker Chris Williams is teaching classes in our storefront this month and has brought over one of his truly remarkable Welsh stick chairs, made from Welsh woods in the old tradition by a 100-percent Welshman.
Chris is, quite simply, the best stick chair maker alive. He’s the one we all look up to, and he’s always pushing the design of the chair forward in terms of design and backward in terms of using armbows made from curved branches – the traditional way that the best chairs were made.
In fact, I would put up his work against any fine furniture maker in terms of fit and surface finish. Chris absolutely tortures himself to get it right. And it shows in the results.
Chris, the author of “Good Work,” was shown how to make Welsh stick chairs by John Brown, and Chris worked with JB for many years, making these chairs.
Here’s a little about the chair from Chris:
Dimensions:
Overall height: 41”
Seat height: 17-1/2”
Seat depth: 16-1/2”
Seat width: 24”
The chair is made from timber I source myself from around my home village of Llanybri in Wales. Small-diameter ash logs are split by hand and are used to construct the legs, stretchers and sticks. The three-piece ash arm bow is made from naturally curved ash from the hedgerows, which is cut in winter and seasoned for a few years before use. I follow the tradition that the armbow dictates the shape of the seat, which in turn makes Welsh chairs visually and uniquely distinctive from other chair forms. The two-piece elm seat is jointed with loose tenons and the oak pegs which are used in this construction technique form a pattern on the seat which is visible when a raking light casts across it. The chair is stained with a black dye and topcoated with a linseed oil finish. The open grain of the timbers is clearly visible through the matte/satin finish.
Typically, Chris has a buyer for the chairs he brings over. But for this one we decided to offer it up in a silent auction here on our blog. All the proceeds go to Chris. (We never take a cut when we sell other people’s work.)
Purchasing the Chair
This chair is being sold via silent auction. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, June 15. In the email please use the subject line “Welsh Chair Sale” and include your:
- Your bid
- First name and last name
- U.S. shipping address
- Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
This chair has a reserve. The sale price will include shipping to anywhere in the lower 48 states. Or you are welcome to pick it up in our storefront here in Covington, Ky.
That is a stunningly gorgeous chair, that is, and, as far as can be told from the photos, one of the most beautiful ones I’ve seen. Whoever puts in the winning bid will be one lucky someone!
Out of curiosity, though, how do you go about bringing a chair with you across the Atlantic, unless you flatpack it (which I don’t suppose was the case here)?
Not that that matters, of course – as I said: curious, is all.
What does matter is the pure beauty of that chair! I take my hat off in awe and respect.
He brings it in pieces. Then assembles and finishes it here.
I see! In that case I’m even more impressed – to get it from flatpacked to that level of assembly and finish, while preparing and teaching a class … whew. And wow! Thanks for the explanation, Chris.
Cheers,
Mattias
That said, I have of course seen you, Chris, build a chair from scratch while at the same time preparing and teaching a class, so I should not have expressed that kind off surprise over “just” assembly and finish.
I guess a major part of my impressedness comes from my own almost complete lack of simultaneous capacity, and related difficulty to conceive of how that feels or works.
I’ll leave all that aside, though, to end with saying agin: that chair is stunningly beautiful!
I fantasized him flying with the assembled chair as carry-on and sitting in that instead of the airplane seat. He’d be the most comfortable person on the plane.
Wow, that chair is stunning!
That is a beautiful chair! Absolutely stunning!
Is the finish black paint, or something else?
I really like how the grain shows thru.
Also, are the legs using tapered tenons or straight cylinders?
The finish is a water-based dye product. Followed by a linseed oil topcoat.
And sorry, the tenons are cylindrical. Chris never uses tapered joints.
Could you show a photograph of the pattern of the oak pegs in the loose tenons make or a simple drawing? Would be interested in how it shows up. Thanks either way
What a beautiful chair. I think John would have been quietly proud to have inspired this. He may or may not have liked the rounded legs, I don’t recall seeing him do that and he wasn’t a big fan of turners, yet combining here the shape of a stick chair and the sense of other styles is exciting, ‘pushing the envelope’ (as test pilots used to said of beating Mach records) so as to speak. It is exquisite work. Does Chris teach students to turn?
The legs aren’t turned, they’re shaved to that shape. So no turning in the class.
That is truly a once in a life time chair and someone will be very lucky to win this. And yes, Chris’ chairs are as comfortable to sit in as they are beautiful to view.