Customer Reviews
“Finn has made two Ash Windsor carver chairs for our kitchen. They are beautiful as well as comfortable and will undoubtedly become family heirlooms. He is a fine craftsman and we recommend him unreservedly.”
- Mr M Ashford, Oxfordshire
“A beautiful chair, of the highest quality. A great 21st birthday present for my Nephew.”
- Mr J Clarke, Buckinghamshire
"Finn made 2 Double Bow Windsor and 4 Balloon Back Windsor chairs; they are absolutely amazing, a high standard of workmanship. Would highly recommend him.”
- Mrs J Frindall, Oxfordshire
The Handmade Difference
A tradition of thoughtful craftsmanship.
My chairs aren’t designed on a computer for factory production. They have more in common with a Savile Row suit - calmly put together by competent hands and a careful eye. If you’ve ever sat in a handmade Windsor, you’ll remember the difference.
Grown in Britain.
100% of the timber used in every chair is sourced from British woodlands. My business has been assessed and approved by Grown in Britain, an organisation which promotes the sustainable and active management of our forests.
Honest joinery.
The proper way to build a Windsor chair hasn’t changed in two hundred years. The seat should be made from a single piece of timber, saddled to support the posterior (large or small). The arms and bows are formed from a single stave of ash, steam bent then carefully shaped by hand. Legs and stretchers are turned from timber selected for perfectly straight grain. The assembly is then carried out using wedges and hot hide glue - traditional joinery that is simple to repair.
The Workshop
A chairmaker’s inheritance.
It takes time and patience to develop a calm, careful approach to craftsmanship. I’ve been working with my hands for nearly thirty years - as a decorator, shopfitter and cabinetmaker.
During lockdown I found an old magazine article about Jim Steele, a traditional Windsor chairmaker who lives not too far away. Jim’s retired now, but he passed on his tools, techniques and wisdom. With this inheritance, and a little more encouragement from fellow chairmaker James Mursell, I set up my workshop in a Buckinghamshire stableyard.
I feel proud to continue this heritage, and I hope it shows in every chair I make. My aim is to make furniture of lasting beauty - the heirlooms of tomorrow.
- Finn Koefoed-Nielsen