Peter Thornton

I am a chairmaker working from my home in the west midlands. I am a city and guilds qualified carpenter and joiner, and I worked as a carpenter for many years before transferring to the IT industry which I left in 2020 to take up my interest in chairmaking full-time. My chairs and stools are made to my own designs based on traditional methods. My chairs are all of the post and rail design with a woven rush seat.I source my oak and ash logs from local sustainably managed woodlands. All my chairs and stools are made by hand using only traditional hand tools.I split the logs and shape the chair components with a shave horse and draw knife while the wood is still green (unseasoned). Once assembled the chair will season for several months before I weave a seat using rushes which I harvest myself from a local river.My chairs have won first prize at the Association of Pole-lathe Turners and Green Woodworkers annual gathering (Bodgers Ball) in 2022 and 2024.

• Chair Seating
• Rush (Chair Seating)