07/30/2026
Remember The Windsor Institute’s tongue-in-cheek mission statement: For handmade Windsor chairs to take over the world and to bring about the downfall of Shaker chairmakers everywhere? I’m not sure as to how well Shaker chairmakers are faring, but handmade Windsors continue to spread. I recently had an email exchange with a young man named Rafael from Cordoba, Spain. His father has made some thirty Windsors using my book Make a Windsor Chair. He then taught Rafael, who has caught the bug. He hopes to sell some chairs and, if successful, perhaps open a chair shop. I asked for some pix, and I am including them with this post.
For seats, the duo uses Pinus insignis, called locally “Pino monterrey " or Pino california. It is native to southern California and is now cultivated in other countries. The turnings are made of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and sometimes native ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Bendings and spindles are made from American red oak, which grows abundantly in northern Spain. Rafael’s father rived the wood for his first dozen chairs but now buys planks and resaws them along the grain.
Let’s give Rafael words of encouragement. I think it would be a hoot to have someone making and selling Windsors in southern Spain, and a laudable continuation of our efforts.
