Check out the tutorials on our Youtube channel!
NATIONAL CHAIR CANING DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE:
The SeatWeavers Guild is a great resource. They have a list of members who teach and/or restore chairs. Become a member and attend annual gatherings – Membership is very inexpensive and tax deductible. The 2025 Gathering is in Williamsburg, VA the last weekend of July. See you there?
Peerless Rattan has a free directory plus videos & supplies.
www.wickerwoman.com is a paid directory of caners, wicker workers, and furniture repair professionals. A wealth of chair nerd knowledge is found here.
CRAFT ORGANIZATIONS & COMMUNITIES:
Cane & Wicker Restoration is a public Facebook group where folks all over the world post their projects, questions, and generally geek on chairs. They also have a directory of weavers, but you have to join the group to access it.
The Furniture Society is a national organizations of woodworkers, chair makers, students, and teachers with a mission to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence, and fostering an understanding of this art and its place in society. Join to receive excellent benefits and attend their annual conferences -not to be missed!
The Southern Highland Craft Guild
established in 1930 with a mission to cultivate the crafts and makers of the Southern Highlands for the purpose of shared resources, education, marketing, and conservation. Visit the Folk Art Center or any of their galleries and shops in Asheville, join the guild, or attend their annual special events and craft fairs.
The American Craft Council is a national nonprofit organization that connects and galvanizes diverse craft communities and traditions to advance craft’s impact in contemporary American life and to keep craft artists and the community connected, inspired, and thriving. Join the Council, attend one of their annual nationwide shows, subscribe to American Craft Magazine, or visit their library in Minnesota.
LOCAL SUPPLIES (Asheville & North Carolina)
Silver River Chairs: We keep a fair amount of rush, strand cane, 1/2 open cane webbing, and splint reed in our shop in Weaverville.
We carry Howard’s Feed & Wax and a number of chair caning accoutrements and specialty tools. We are glad to sell you some stuff but we do limited shipping…we aren’t proper suppliers, our business is mainly teaching. Locals can pick up by appointment only during 2025!
Earth Guild on Haywood St in Downtown Asheville has reed, strand cane, sheet cane, spline, books, plus lots of great supplies for fiber, clay, and more.
Suzanne Moore’s Basketworks Online & in Vass, NC
SUPPLIES ONLINE
The Country Seat in PA, good folks and very helpful, family owned & operated.
HH Perkins in CT donated the material for the chair wall in the museum. Y’all rock. This is a 100+ yr old company family owned.
Frank’s Cane and Rush Supply in CA, also pretty cool people. Quality supplies and excellent selection. Remember the time difference.
The Caning Shop also in CA, also pretty cool people. Remember the time difference. Jim wrote The Caner’s Handbook & The Complete Guide to Chair Caning among a number of other books.
Shaker Workshops for Shaker tape and Shaker Chair kits!! Located online and in the barn with Tappan Chairs, a New Hampshire chair making tradition.
Cane & Basket Supply also in CA, great for bulk spline.
V.I. Reed & Cane Helping weavers weave since 1981…located in Arkansas.
Peerless Rattan located in Michigan….check out their YouTube videos! And their chair caning directory.
The Basket Maker’s Catalog in Kentucky has great online instructions
Royalwood, Ltd. in Ohio, does wholesale & retail. Carries black cane!
STRUCTURAL WORK OR STAINING/REFINISHING:
Asheville Furniture Repair is just down the road from the shop. 828-633-3088
Custom Woodworks (home workshop in Black Mountain) Bob Haase. 828-707-2946
McCall Restoration Services (home workshop in Arden) Tim McCall. 828-301-3480
Furniture Repair Works (home workshop) Joe & Linda Mc Carson. 828-670-7764
Crossroads Workshop shop in East Flat Rock. Gene Robeson. 828-697-1923
UPHOLSTERY:
Biltmore Upholstery – Fletcher, NC. (828) 676-2400
Stevens Upholstery in North Asheville, NC (828) 645-3422
Redwood Upholstery 362 Depot St. in the River Arts District (828) 251-5335
Quality Upholstering Burnsville, NC 28714 (828) 682-1677
WICKER WORK:
my guru Andrea Clarke works out of her home in Asheville. Also does chair caning, taught me the xs! 828-545-3618
Chris Meyers, find him on Facebook or in Franklin NC. 828-371-8042
Rob Anderson, Anderson’s Restoration in Yadkinville, NC. 336-679-3317
Joel Burman, Wicked Wicker Works in Richmond, VA. 804-968-8668
CHAIR GURUS:
Aspen Golann has lived 4 chair nerd lives already. She teaches and inspires wherever she goes.
Annie Evelyn is a badass designer, teacher, and person. Currently teaching at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee.
Curtis Buchanan is a Windsor chair maker and spoon carver in Jonesborough Tennessee.
Sophie Glenn in Pennsylvania creates woven chairs made of metal…you have to see it to believe it.
Eric Cannizzaro in Vermont creates beautiful chairs with woven seats and incredible Windsor chairs.
Brian Brace Fine Furniture -a Roycroft Artisan in Black Mountain.
Woody’s Chair Shop: Located in Spruce Pine, 200 years of WNC Chair Making History.
Alan Daigre in Woodbury, Tn. Pieced wood block chairs…dang…very comfortable and sexy chairs.
Brian Boggs Chairmakers. Located off Amboy Rd on the outskirts of the River Arts District, their shop is a must see for chair nerds.
David Douyard in Connecticut is a Windsor chair maker and teaches Windsors and Brian Boggs Chairmaking techniques. I fell in love with one of his Windsor rockers after an afternoon on the porch.
Caleb James is an accomplished woodworker and teaches how to make Danish Chairs.
Dr. Brian Crossley of Chester, UK is credited for the historical information in the Caner’s Handbook. Dr. Crossley wrote this fantastic case study of caned furniture for the East India Company at Home, a research project for University College London. He has been very kind to an American chair nerd who emails him from time to time. Much obliged for his time spent educating and enlightening a total stranger.
Rachael South is the most famous Chair Caner in the UK. See her in a variety of museums, teaching classes, or on Netflix’s The Repair Shop.
Felicity Irons of Rushmatters in the UK…the authority on bulrush harvesting and weaving. Incredible.
EXPLORE MORE CHAIR CANING IN THE REGION:
Folk Art Center of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Galleries, exhibits, shop, demonstrations, special events.
Grovewood Gallery at the Grove Park Inn. Great furniture upstairs. There is a Mace Cornshuck 2 seater bench downstairs. Arts & Crafts & Old Hickory Furniture are scattered throughout the hotel itself, AND they host an incredible Arts & Crafts Conference every February. A must for any furniture nerd.
Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN has an incredible selection of corn shuck chairs in the dining hall and all over the place.
John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC has chair caning classes and classic antique woven chairs throughout the property.
Artisan Center at Berea, Kentucky and while you’re there, head up to Pleasant Hill Shaker Village and freak out on the chairs. Seriously. Check out this link to their online catalog to geek out on Shaker chairs from the comfort of home.
CHAIR CANING BOOKS:
The Caner’s Handbook & The Complete Guide to Chair Caning by Jim Widess. Available at Silver River Chairs, online at the above chair weaving suppliers, or at your local library.
Chair Seating – Techniques in Cane, Rush, Willow and Cords by Mary Butcher, Kay Johnson, and Olivia Barratt. The definitive encyclopedia of Chair Seat Weaving, published in limited batches in the UK, and available for sale at Silver River Chairs for $65. (plus shipping if you need it shipped)
American Seating Furniture 1630-1730. Benno M. Forman – the nerdiest chair book out there.
Now I Sit Me Down. Witold Rybczynski – Most excellent chair book. So many woven chair references.
L. Day Perry’s old school 1887 book is online! Here is the 1917 version: https://archive.org/details/seatweaving00perriala
Chair Caning bibliography in the works. Visit our library to see our collection of technical manuals, historical books, biographies, catalogs…
My favorite places to find chairs in Asheville:
Everywhere else was destroyed by the flood – meh