I’ve long been obsessed with Welsh stick chairs. But if you’ve known me for more than 5 minutes, you know I’m going to prod the historical record to see what else might be lurking in the dim corners of early homes.
Stick chairs can be found in many cultures. In fact, every culture that researcher Suzanne Ellison and I start investigating has some variant of this chair.
This is no surprise. A stick chair is a logical answer to the question: How do you build a chair quickly with few tools and few materials?
For this blog entry, I pulled some of the photos we’ve collected from Western Europe. What I love about these examples is how the same idea is interpreted slightly differently. Some of these are – to my eye – sublime (even if they are intended for night soil).
Most of my commission work is surprisingly straightforward. People see something on my personal website (christophermschwarz.com) and say: Hey, I’d like you to build that again.
I build it. And I ship it to them.
Sometimes I get a request for something a little unusual. For example, this summer I’m working out the details of a three-tiered campaign chest. And I have a request for some Roorkhee ottomans. But those pieces are based firmly on my existing work.
This year, however, I got a very unusual order for a chair. It went something like this: Build me a chair, but I want it to advance your work as a designer. He gave me some thoughts on the woods he preferred and what he liked about my existing chair designs, but that was it.
I decided to use this opportunity to work out the details of an armchair for “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” I took an undercarriage design I’ve been working on for a couple years and refined it some more. Then I made the undercarriage parallel to the floor (instead of the seat), a detail I swiped from Chris Williams’s chairs. I shortened the armbow. Added some spindles. And did a major reshape of the crest rail (sometimes called a “comb”).
The chair looks good. It sits even better. But it’s not the armchair for “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” During construction of this chair, I devised a number of ways I could simplify this design so it would be much easier to build. And ease of building is one of the most important principles in the book.
So I am incredibly grateful to this customer who gave me the huge gift of freedom. And even though I failed to produce the bullseye design for “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” this chair is an important stepping stone to that design.
On our website, John and I frequently discuss the mechanical aspects of our books. But sometimes I worry our technical jargon is lost on some.
To help remedy that, here’s a short video on the mechanical aspects of our books. If you’ve ever wondered about paper weight, edition binding and sewing signatures, this video should clear it up.
If you’d like a factory tour of the plant that prints many of our full-color books, check out this film that I made last year. That film shows how many of our manufacturing decisions play out on the factory floor.
We think book manufacturing is important. Many books today are so shoddily printed and bound that it’s no wonder many people prefer electronic books. We strive to ensure our books will last for a long time, can survive a shop environment (or worse) and still be a pleasure to read after decades of use.
We adore Nancy Hiller’s new book “English Arts & Crafts Furniture,” even though we didn’t publish it. So we have gladly agreed to host a book-release party at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 at our storefront in Covington, Ky.
Nancy, as you well know, is a straight-talking, no-BS professional woodworker from Bloomington, Ind., who has written a number of books, including “Making Things Work.” (She’s now working on a book on kitchen design for Lost Art Press.)
During our book-release party next month, Nancy has a number of fun things planned (this time we promise – no prostitutes or single-ply toilet paper will be there).
Nancy will bring her C.F.A. Voysey two-heart chair (featured in the book) for you to inspect
She’ll give a short reading from the book
She’ll sign your copy of “English Arts & Crafts” furniture, plus any other books she has written. Note, we’ll have copies of “English Arts & Crafts” there for you to purchase.
There will be a pinata. Last time it was a pinata in the shape of a DeWalt biscuit jointer. This time the pinata will be related to the United Kingdom (though I promise it’s not Brexit-related or single-ply toilet paper).
We will supply drinks and snacks.
All are welcome – feel free to bring your spouse and children. Heck, make an evening out of it. There are lots of great places to eat in Covington. And if you are from out of town, Aug. 11 is a great day to plan a visit to Covington as the Lost Art Press storefront will be open to the public that day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Again, you can register for the book-release party (it’s free) via this link.
Nancy, as you well know, is a 