Arts & Crafts Movement Gimson chair with willow seat

Perfectly at home in a traditional or modern setting, this chair is a stand alone piece or can form part of a collection. My aim for this chair is to showcase to a new audience the beauty of whole willow seating and celebrate Ernest Gimson, master craftsman and one of the leaders of the Arts & Crafts movement.

Sarah’s hope is to enhance the striking beauty of this iconic chair with the warm tones of Harrison’s Brown willow.

Willow weaving this chair pays homage to one of Gimson's celebrated pieces of furniture that is displayed at the Wilson Museum, Cheltenham. The original produced by Gimson 1894 - 1896, has an ash frame with a white willow woven seat. (Object number 1971.49). The museum chair was reputedly given by Gimson to Sidney Barnsley as a wedding gift and used by Barnsley later in his workshop. The straight back poles are typical of chairs made by Gimson himself. Due to the way the chair seat is woven, Sarah believes that Gimson wove the seat himself. It was the chair at the Wilson Museum that ignited Sarah’s interest in whole willow seating and has led to date to her creation of several chairs with natural bark on, white, indigo dyed and cyanotype dyed willow.

The seat features Harrisons Brown and Old French willow varieties. In the making of this seat advanced basketmaking techniques including skeining and scalloming. Skeining, (as catagorised by the Heritage Crafts Radcliffe Red List), is an endangered basketry technique and is used to create willow ribbons that cover the side and back rails.

The ash wood chair frame was made for Sarah in 2022 by Lawrence & Daniel Neal. Lawrence & Daniel are father and son, 4th & 5th generation furniture makers descending from and working in the Gimson tradition. Price on application 2026.