Chairmaker to share his craft

ONE of Australia’s best Windsor chairmakers, Glen Rundell, is heading to the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades to share his skills.

Over three days, Rundell will be teaching attendees how to work with timber and construct a chair using traditional tools.

Participants will take home a perch stool at the end of the workshop.

“It might only be a three-day class, but it gives students the ability and the confidence to approach a whole manner of different woodworking and craft tasks,” said Rundell.

“It’s a very good skills building exercise and at the end of it you come out with an heirloom piece of furniture that will probably outlast you.”

Rundell has taught his craft around Australia and the United States and founded the Lost Trades Fair with his wife Lisa Rundell.

“I first went to America, to Jonesborough Tennessee, to learn how to make Windsor chairs and after that first class, it was such a lifechanging experience for me, being taught by America’s finest chairmaker Curtis Buchanan,” said Rundell.

“After experiencing that I came back and made chairs myself a little while and the started teaching the classes here with Curtis’ blessing.”

The Rundells are patrons of the Centre for Rare Trades and Forgotten Arts after creating a business plan in 2015.

The Sovereign Hill Museums Association then brought the idea to life.

“I probably should teach chairmaking in the school I came up with the idea to build,” said Rundell.

“We have lost more knowledge that has been around for thousands of years, we have allowed it to die with the practitioners of those various crafts in a short amount of time.”

Rundell said Windsor chairmaking is about making furniture pieces which will last lifetimes.

“It’s furniture that is built to last, it’s not built to go onto hard rubbish collection,” he said.

“We instil in people the importance of building things once and building them properly.”

To take part in the workshop, visit the Centre for Rare Trades and Forgotten Arts website.