An American, an Irish Chair, in Germany

I’ve taught woodworking at Dictum GmbH in Germany for many years. And it’s always a bit disorienting (but fun). I’m an American with a German last name who teaches people how to make chairs from Wales, Scotland and Ireland. And the students are German, Swedish, Mexican, Polish, Dutch….

And the class is in Bavaria. But taught in English.

Somehow we make it work, and the classes are always the highlight of my summer. During the last decade, I’ve made lots of close friends overseas through these classes. This year I taught students how to make an Irish Gibson chair, then we spent a week making a comb-back chair with steam-bent components.

Heiko Pulcher, one of my friends at Dictum, took the following video during my class on the Gibson chair. Check it out.

This class also represented a big step forward in my understanding of this Irish chair. I’ve been making this chair form for eight years now, and I have continually refined the process to make it simpler and to remove jigs and math.

I think I have finally nailed it.

This year I plan to film the new process. It will replace our existing video for sale in our store. If you bought the old video, you will get the new one for free. Stay tuned.

— Christopher Schwarz