James Mursell

James Mursell has been making Windsor chairs for 28 years. He was  introduced to them by veteran teacher Jack Hill, on a course at West Dean College. Subsequently he studied with Mike Dunbar, one of America’s leading experts on Windsor chairs, and has been a full-time professional chairmaker for the past 23 years.

James Mursell initially made chairs to commission, selling through galleries and shows. As tine went on he started The Windsor Workshop to teach Windsor chair making, building a new purpose-built workshop in 2006.

He has developed a range of specialist chair making tools. These include his unique travisher for shaping chair seats, and spokeshaves During the first COVID lockdown he developed two new scraper tools.He sells these tools all over the world to discerning woodworkers.

He has been offering courses at The Windsor Workshop for the past 20 years and they run throughout the year.  He also taught Windsor chair making at West Dean College until 2016.

He has written extensively on the subject of Windsor chairs with many articles appearing in Furniture & Cabinet Making and Good Woodworking. His book ‘Windsor Chairmaking‘ was published in 2011. James is a member of The Sussex Guild, and exhibits regularly at their shows. He can also be found at shows around the south of England, promoting courses, tools and chairs.

Prior to becoming a full-time chairmaker, James was a commercial fruit grower for fifteen years. Before that he worked for Tate & Lyle in America, after graduating with a degree in Botany from Cambridge. 

In his spare time, he runs locally. James is married to Louise, and they have two daughters, both of whom have made chairs!