Date 5-11 July 2025 (7 Days)

Price £765

Maximum number of places 5

Book Contact Robin @redwoodchairs on Instagram or phone 07939 425198

Course Details

Robin’s ‘democratic’ chair making course is run in a covered workshop space, in a woodland setting, over seven days.  Campers are welcome to arrive from Friday evening and spend time around the fire, ready for a Saturday morning start.

The ‘democratic chair’ is a Windsor chair concept from well respected American chair maker, Curtis Buchanan. The concept being the chair is designed to be accessible to anyone who wants to make one, unlike with most Windsor chairs, where the list of required tools and the specific nature of the wood required can be overwhelming.

The real beauty of this course is that students should be able to go away and reproduce the chair at home with minimal tool costs.

The course will cover making all the parts and the assembly, using locally sourced green wood. Students will spend seven days in the tranquil surroundings of Ellekers Wood, learning to cleave, shape, bend and carve wood into all the required parts to build their chair. No previous experience is necessary, this course is open to beginners and experienced wood workers alike, all necessary tuition and tools will be provided.

Catering:

For all courses, a hearty, healthy lunch is provided (please let your tutor know of any dietary requirements when booking), along with tea, coffee and water. Breakfast and evening meal is self-catered, with firewood and charcoal-based cooking available.

We also provide firewood, brew-kit, washing up and cooking facilities, crockery and cutlery. 

Guests should bring; barbecue food or pans for cooking on a fire for breakfast and evening meals.

Facilities:

Facilities include covered workshop spaces, an undercover outdoor cooking set-up, comfortable compost toilet, plenty of loo roll, and handwashing.  A good stone track leads to the wood where there is space to park, please keep speed under 10mph.

Tutor Bio

Robin Duckmanton (@redwoodchairs) is a renowned Windsor chair maker and has been teaching one to one windsor chair making classes from his home workshop in North Yorkshire. Originally an assistant to Mike Abbott, both assisting him in making chairs and helping on his courses, he further developed his skills in Tennessee, spending time learning from Curtis Buchanan. Now mainly making green wood chairs in the same American style as Curtis, he also produces hand crafted stools, spoons and bowls to make sure all the wood from the process gets used. Rob uses Ellekers Wood as his local base for group classes.