windsor chair

New Sights

Last week, I had the pleasure of accompanying Stephanie to Pennsylvania for a few days. The reason for the trip was to visit the DuPont Gardens at Longwood, but we also made it down to Winterthur to see some wonderful chairs.

 

The Main dining room at Winterthur

The Main dining room at Winterthur

Nope, not these, although they were worthy of my attention for the entire time we were in the room. I just thought it might be of interest to see how the other half lives. Other half of what I'm not sure.

 

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I deeply regret not having my good camera with me, but what follows are a few of my favorite sights in the hall of Windsors that I saw.

The staff was kind enough to give me a private tour of this room, it helps to ask. Much of the treat is the scale of the parts and the patina. It's so fascinating to see the thinness of the parts and the shapes.

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A dramatic stance!

A dramatic stance!

A stunning color

A stunning color

This seat was a favorite

This seat was a favorite

The thin size of the parts on this birdcage are astounding in person

The thin size of the parts on this birdcage are astounding in person

This triple back is a real eye catcher

This triple back is a real eye catcher

When your name is DuPont you can have two

When your name is DuPont you can have two

Pie Crust Table

Pie Crust Table

I know that this last image isn't the usual topic here, but it really caught my eye and has occupied my thoughts. While done in what is clearly a masterful way, the subtle marks near the edge of the flat area clearly show the undulations of the hand of the maker. It definitely made me think about how our modern sensibilities expect a machined level of perfection on all surfaces and if I was to see a drawing of this table, I would expect that those marks wouldn't be there. I wonder how the maker and owner of this piece thought about this in their time. I am certainly aware of hand tool marks being prized on some modern work, such as chairs, for their proof of the presence of the hand of the maker, but I can 't help but wonder what it was like when the maker was obvious simply by the existence of the piece.

A week from today is the first class that I'll host in my Rollinsford NH school, there is still space to join me to make a fan back or balloon back. I am excited to get the ball rolling!

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Welcome to the New Chair Notes!

Welcome to the new home of Chair Notes! I am very happy to finally have my website, store and blog in one place, I hope that you'll subscribe below. Rest assured, the older posts will remain at www.chairnotes.blogspot.com.

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Starting this new site bekons me to look back ten years since I started this blog. Lots has happened and changed, but the drive and interest that brought me here in the first place still runs strong. I am excited to be working on new chairs, classes, tools and I can't believe I'm saying this, yes another book. Since starting the blog, I've steered away from my hermit tendencies and found a much better balance between my solo shop time and my community time. Sure, sometimes the transition can be rough, but it's nothing that a couple of days sleeping on the kitchen floor with my dogs can't cure.

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Here is a recent rocker. Those of you at Handworks or Greenwoodfest got to see this one in process. There are some new aesthetic and technical details in this one that I will be sharing when I get some better pics.

Of course, right now, my main focus is on getting ready to teach classes at my new school in Rollinsford, NH. I'm outfitting the space specifically for teaching, which is a real pleasure, I think it will pay off to have a dedicated teaching space.

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After making chairs for so many years, one can easily forget the magic of seeing it come together for the first time. I love seeing the chairs through the eyes of the students as they start to come together.

Here is Tomas at my most recent class at North Bennet Street. He came all the way from Munich to make a c-arm!

I'll be posting the progress of the school as it comes into being. I would love some feedback. If you get a chance, please leave a comment or contact me directly at peter@petergalbert.com and let me know what you think might improve the school, classes or schedule. I'd especially like to hear your ideas on class topics and what I can do to make it more possible for you to attend a class.  I've taught lots of classes in many environments over the years and have carefully noted what makes them work smoothly, but your input is much appreciated.

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Georgie enjoyed the little bit of the eclipse that we saw