Chairmaking at Amersham Museum

Part of the Chilterns Chair Festival

Traditional green woodworking techniques are central to the history of the Chilterns, where bodgers set up workshops in the woods, making chair components from the abundant beech and ash that grew in the area.

These traditions influenced later generations of chairmakers, including greenwoodworkers in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. In turn, their skills and techniques inspired makers such as Jennie Alexander, whose influential book Make a Chair from a Tree, first published in 1978, helped reintroduce green woodworking to a wider audience.

The book sparked renewed interest in a craft with deep roots in the Chilterns and encouraged an exchange of ideas across the Atlantic that continues today.

Ed and Graham from London Green Wood will demonstrate techniques that would have been familiar to 19th-century bodgers as they create the components for a Jennie Alexander chair over the course of two days at the Amersham Museum.

Bio:

London Green Wood is a members-run co-operative of green woodworkers based in Hackney. They have two outdoor workshops and regularly run courses in green woodwork and basket weaving. www.londongreenwood.com