Category: Chairmaker’s Notebook

Publishers set deadlines so they can control when their books hit the stores (this keeps the money flowing), and so they can prevent the author’s vision from spiraling out of control (this keeps costs under control).

We eschew deadlines as much as possible. The book is done when the book is done. And if the author’s vision spirals mightily during the process, then it’s probably a good book.

“Chairmaker’s Notebook” by Peter Galbert is a textbook example. The project began on March 25, 2012, when I visited Peter and fellow chairmaker Curtis Buchanan at Kelly Mehler’s school to discuss an idea for a DVD on making a single chair. Peter was going to illustrate a short manual to go with the DVD.

Sometimes you have no idea what is going to come out of the soil when you throw some seeds on the ground. Curtis decided to release the DVDs in a 10-disc set on making a comb-back chair. It’s a fantastic look at the process from beginning to end. You can order the set from Curtis here.

Peter shifted gears and decided to write a book on building two Windsor chairs: a balloon-back and a fan-back. The book was going to have a standard mix of step photos and a few illustrations. (Peter received a degree in photography from the Art Institute of Chicago and also studied painting, drawing and sculpture.)

As Peter started drawing, the book evolved again. The photographs were shoved aside in favor of illustrations. The book became a massive brain-dump of the entire process of chair construction, and there is a lot in Peter’s brain. I’ve studied every chairmaking book available during the last 15 years. Peter has re-thought almost every part of the process and proved his techniques through building and teaching.

There are more than 500 hand-drawn illustrations in “Chairmaker’s Notebook,” but that’s not an accurate count. There were 500 pages of illustrations that John and I scanned. Many of these pages contained several illustrations. And many of these illustrations were redrawn four or five times until Peter was happy.

The text has been through the hands of five other chairmakers, editors and writers. Not because the text needed a lot of work, but because Peter sought out their critiques to refine every explanation.

And poor Linda Watts, the designer. Most books take about three weeks to design. She’s been on this job since late November, I think. It’s a complicated task to present so much information in a way that makes it look clean and simple.

Last night about 8:25 I finished entering the final changes from Megan Fitzpatrick, who copy edited the book, and I sent the proof to Peter for review. We still have some tidying to do, and Suzanne Ellison is working on the index as I type this. But the end is near.

We have resolved to get this book to the printer on Feb. 10. On that date, I’ll have complete details on the price, the number of pages and (if you are nice) an excerpt from the book.

At the end of massive book projects such as this, I always say something like: “And this is why traditional physical media is dying.” But as I page through the finished product, I also say this: “I wouldn’t do it any other way.”

— Christopher Schwarz

Peter Galbert’s upcoming book on chairmaking began more than two years ago with a short afternoon chat in Berea, Ky. It started as a DVD project with some plans. Then it was a booklet. Next, a book with photos and drawings. And finally, a massive opus on green-wood chairmaking with more than 450 hand-drawn illustrations by Peter himself.

Peter, who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, has drawn out the process of chairmaking in such incredible detail that I think you could build a chair even if you never read a word of the book.

And while I say there are 450 drawings, that is a gross underestimation. There are 450 sheet of drawings (plus a couple dozen on the way). Many of these sheets contain as many as six individual illustrations.

Many of these illustrations were drawn four or five times over as Peter refined the look of the illustrations. As I scanned every one of these illustrations during the last five days, I was in awe of the scope of his work.

It is the Roubo of green chairmaking, and I do not say that lightly.

I’ve been making chairs for more than 10 years, and I am blown away by the clarity of Peter’s methods, his metaphors and his ability to explain complex problems with only a few sentences and a perfect drawing.

I hope to rise to the challenge of presenting this material. We are now on our second full round of scanning the drawings. All 450 illustrations have been processed and cleaned up in Photoshop individually.

As I type this, Linda Watts, the designer, is laying out the book in an 8-1/2” x 11” format so it has an open feel with plenty of white space to frame Peter’s illustrations.

We’ve decided to call this book “Chairmaker’s Notebook” because it has the look and feel of a technical sketchbook. It appears casual and airy, but is filled with big ideas.

When will it be ready? We hope to send it to the printer in January with a release in late February or early March. We have no information on pricing. But I do have one tantalizing detail to share. One of Peter’s friends is a bookbinder and plans to offer a hand-bound version of “Chairmaker’s Notebook.”

I know that many of you have been waiting a long time for this book. We are close, and it will be worth the wait.

— Christopher Schwarz