Chris Williams has always had a passion for chairs, and an equally deep affection for the countryside that quite literally shapes his work. Based on the rural west coast of Wales, he has spent more than 30 years making Welsh stick chairs, which he crafts using timber foraged directly from the hedgerows. “Because I'm born and bred in the area, the farmers know me and if they see me in a hedge, they don’t really mind,” he laughs. “When I harvest the wood, I do it in such a way that you’d never know I’d been there. And I like to document exactly where the materials come from, so I can pass that information on to whoever buys the chair.”
Thought to date back as far as the 13th century, the Welsh stick chair is unique to the region, and rather than a set design, the shape is dictated by the curves of the natural wood. “What I love about this type of vernacular furniture is that it’s never made en masse or to plan. My grandmother would often say, ‘you cut your coat according to the cloth’ and making these chairs is the same philosophy,” he says. “I do take commissions, but I explain to customers that I work with what’s in front of me, timber wise, and the wood will determine what the elements of the chair - particularly what the arm bows will look like. So it won’t necessarily be the same as a piece that they’ve seen in my book or on Instagram. I'm happy to spend some time going over things though, and I really enjoy that process.”
Growing up in a small, west Wales community, Chris’s life was already interwoven with craft and the countryside, but it was an apprenticeship with a local authority that set him on the path he still follows. “I was fortunate enough to work in what was known as the Architects Department, so although my job was with the council, I wasn't on typical building sites. They owned a lot of historic buildings, so I was taught how to make box sash windows, and I also got to work on old farms, making gates, repairing barn doors, that kind of thing. So very early on I fell in love with carpentry, but there was also a real connection to the countryside,” he recalls.
In the early 1990s he heard about a man, and indeed a book, that subsequently shaped his entire practice. That man was John Brown, an independent chairmaker and a key figure in Welsh craft, who was also the author of Welsh Stick Chairs, a quietly radical publication that helped revive the almost forgotten tradition. “It was quite a cult book, and I drove all the way to Newport in Pembrokeshire to buy a copy,” says Chris. “It was a revelation to me. It was so informative, and I was hooked on the chairs and the author. I read John’s monthly articles in Good Woodworking magazine fervently. His writing was great - nothing of the anorak in his articles, and his take on life was so different than the norm.”
It wasn’t until several years later however, when Chris and his wife were on a working holiday in Australia that he had an epiphany, having picked up a copy of a magazine, which just so happened to have a piece in it about Brown. “It was such a lovely article, with images of daffodils coming up and hedgerows coming into leaf. It was then I knew I needed to come home and to build a workshop. I’d already been making chairs, but they weren’t very good, so I decided to pluck up the courage to ring John, which I did. Despite the fact that he was known for being eccentric, we hit it off immediately. From then on, I honed my craft with him. He basically changed the course of my life.”
So profound was Brown’s influence, that Chis went on to write a book about his friend and mentor entitled ‘Good Work’: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown. Published by Lost Art Press, the script is an insight into Brown’s life as a chair maker, a hand tool revivalist and his philosophical approach to the craft. Chris himself continues to construct chairs using the same traditional methods and simple carpentry tools. “I've got some specialist tools now, which have been given to me over the years, but I do pride myself in not having a chest full and I like to keep the process as uncomplicated as possible,” he says. “The chairs I'm making now are probably the purest they’ve ever been, and I'm never trying to make reproductions - I try to keep things contemporary.”
More recently, Chris has started writing his second book, which this time is more of an autobiography. “I’ve worked in some amazing places and met some hilarious characters, so it’s about what I do and how I got to where I am now. My publisher just said, ‘write it as if we're sitting in a bar and you're telling me your life story’, so I’m there with one finger on the iPad because I can't type,” he chuckles. “But it’s really brought home how important the process of sourcing my own materials is for me. With every chair I make, I know where each part has come from and what that timber will have seen in its lifetime. That’s what gives each piece soul, and what still creates a connection with the land.”
Words by Claudia Baillie.
Photographs by Leia Morrison.
Chris wears the Half Placket Linen Shirt and Grandad Collar Half Placket Denim Shirt. Also pictured is the Melin Tregwynt Welsh Blanket.
Add a comment