Chairmaking is where design and function meet comfort. In an ideal world each chair would be crafted for the individual - matching the length and curvature of your spine, the separation of your hips, the length of your thighs and the length of your shins.

Chair making also drives the furniture maker to combine beauty and strength. An elegant chair looks comfy and inviting but is also built to resist the stresses of day to day use. That satisfied tilt back of a chair at the end of a great meal imposes a huge load on the joinery in the chair.

Sam Maloof described chair making as the pinnacle of furniture making. So where to start?

We're offering two classes on chair making back to back in March. In the Designing Chairs class working as a group (or groups) you get to design and prototype a chair; in the Make a Solid Wood Chair class you build a chair of Tom's design.

Note: We're merging these two classes into a single week long class starting on March 8th.

Designing & Making Chairs

In this five day class chairmaker Tom Dolese discusses the sources of his inspiration and practical requirements that influence his chair design. He approaches chair making from the point of view of a production chair maker where he balances esthetics with the need to make a living.

In this course you'll collectively build a chairs out and learn the design, milling and assembly of a chair. Specifically you'll:

• Lean how to design a chair
• Understand and practice making strong joinery for all the elements of a chair
• Use  templates for legs, stretchers and rails
• Learn how to make a lumbar template, templates for the crest and seat rails
• Compare using a shaper (or router table) with hand tools for shaping chair components
• Make all the components of the chair
• Mark out the joinery
• Glue up the chair
• Cut out, install webbing and upholster a seat bottom
• Understand practical finishes for a chair

Class size:              10     
Cost:                       $650
Materials Charge:  $100

Make a Solid Wood Chair

This class introduces you to the techniques and process for making a chair. In this class you build a chair designed by Tom.

You go through the whole process of building a chair. Starting from a kit of blanks you'll mill out all the components and do the joinery. You'll do the detailed shaping of the components. Then glue and assemble the chair. Finally you'll make make and upholster the seat.

There is less emphasis on design in this class and more emphasis on the skills needed to build a chair efficiently.

Class size:              10     
Cost:                       $650
Materials Charge:  $100