Suzy learned how to make willow chairs from Don King, a master chairmaker in Challis, Idaho. The chairs look fragile and bony, but they are very comfortable and are built to last generations. This is one of them.
Suzy’s chairs are made from local willow, mountain maple, and red twig dogwood. Suzy says that she’s partners with the beavers upstream, who keep the willow trimmed and increase the density of the new shoots; her renter Steve helps too. Here’s Steve harvesting willow,
and here’s a pile of pieces that might become chairs.
Sometimes working out of the house means turning the house into a workspace. This winter, Suzy took over the loft for chairmaking.
First she makes the chair’s frame, usually from willow. Then she covers the frame with willow twigs.
When the chair is new, the twigs are beet red and moss green. Over time, they fade to a uniform russet.
This chair has a peeled mountain maple frame, and oak rockers. It is specially made for a knitter, so it has a yarn pocket on the side. To me, the chair looks like it just walked out of the forest.
The chairs are surprising comfortable. (They even have lumbar support.)
If you want to order one of Suzy’s chairs let me know and I’ll put you in touch with her; she makes these beautiful things for $500.
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