Make a Windsor chair: 5-day course
Make a stool: 2-day course
Courses are held in a purpose built workshop on a farm in West Sussex. A maximum of six students per course ensures that you will receive all the individual attention that you could want. You will be guided through the course by professional chairmaker James Mursell, who has taught hundreds of students over the past 8 years.
The courses are action packed with new techniques being introduced all the time. However there are plenty of breaks for coffee, lunch and tea in the adjacent farmhouse. These breaks are a great time to get to know your fellow students and are an important and enjoyable part of the course. All food and drink is provided and few students leave the course lighter than when they arrived!
Great emphasis is put on making attractive pieces of furniture that are soundly constructed using traditional techniques that have stood the test of time. On the 5-day courses the use of green wood is essential in order to make the finest possible chairs and this wet wood is fully dried before being incorporated into the chair. Each person can expect to take a completed chair/stool away with them at the end of their course along with the skills to make more on their own at home.
Almost the whole course is based around the use of hand tools such as: spokeshaves, travisher, drawknife, adze, brace and bit and others.
Windsor chairmaking is unlike most other branches of woodworking, with the emphasis being more on shaping wood than making the joints. Unlike cabinet making, the joints which are vital to the integrity of the chair are easy to make
James Mursell set up The Windsor Workshop in 2004 to teach the art of chairmaking and to help to keep the craft alive and the courses are designed to give an enjoyable and fulfilling experience, available to all. Absolutely no previous experience is required to take a course and this has been proved time and again by scores of students over the past seven years. Testimonials from past students
Students come on these courses for a number of reasons: just to have a go and to gain the satisfaction of making an attractive an useful piece of furniture; or in the hope of finding a new hobby or career. Whatever your motivation, why not give it a go? You will be guaranteed a busy week learning a wide range of new techniques.
A range of local accommodation is available for those that live too far away to commute daily.
