There are a number of things which make the Creative Seating course unique.

Run from my workshop on the beautiful South Hams coast path, the setting is at once relaxing and tranquil, yet with the facilities of a well equipped workshop right there. My interest has never been in the "heritage" aspect of green woodworking. Whilst many of the methods I use are ancient and unchanged in essence since medieval times, I have no qualms about using power tools and machinery where they can speed things up, or improve quality. What machines are incapable of, and what is at the heart of creative seating, is cleaving and shaving wood. But the ability to make jigs and devices quickly, to machine wood accurately, and to cut wood efficiently greatly increases the scope for transforming peoples ideas into reality.

The most recent course was no exception.

Lauren came with no previous woodworking experience - see her chair at the end of this post!

Pete splitting a fantastically free-range piece of chestnut, which became the back rest for his wild chaise/ bench.

This is day 1 - initial splitting and shaping of the legs.

One of the other advantages of not running form a woodland setting is we are not restricted to what is growing in that wood. I source timber from various local small woodland owners and estates. Available on this course to cleave were; chestnut, oak, ash, cherry, brown oak, walnut and hazel. Board material we had chestnut, ash, oak, wych elm, beech, sycamore, and small quantities of cherry and london plane. All sourced locally for every piece of sustainable wooden furniture.