In a way. Both tattooing and chairmaking are traditions, they are both functional crafts. They are just different mediums and forms of expression. Same skillset, different tools. I enjoy working within the boundaries of “the body” and “a chair”.

Not yet, but I teach classes and hope one day to train apprentices. Chairmaking is a listed Heritage Craft, although it is not listed as endangered, it is not commonly practiced in the traditional way. It uses a very particular set of techniques.

Yes. In the UK, Windsor chairmaking is a traditional rural craft. Many chair parts were produced seasonally in the woodland landscape by ‘bodgers’. I conduct my courses in a covered woodland workshop, surrounded by the materials that we use.

They are harvested locally, within 50 miles of my workshop. I generally work with fresh, or ‘green’ wood, usually Ash. It’s a great timber, it splits – or cleaves – well. It is suitable for woodturning and steam bending, two of my main techniques.