Tom Kealy & Peter Korn
September 25 – October 6
Chairs can be the most challenging and rewarding of all furniture forms. In this two-week course, students create their own chair designs, starting with concept development and ending with functional prototypes. All types of wood chair are fair game. Tom and Peter share their knowledge of design processes, comfort, structure, and construction methods. The fabrication techniques they cover include, among others, lamination bending, steam bending, template and jig-making, machining, joinery for curved and angled components, and hand and pattern shaping. As students develop their own designs, they explore visual elements, comfort, and structure through drawings and mockups.
Tom Kealy designs and makes contemporary furniture to commission from his workshop in Somerset, England. He graduated from Parnham College in 1979 and worked as senior craftsman in the John Makepeace workshops for over ten years. Tom teaches at West Dean College in Sussex, and offers weekly classes at his own workshop. Tom’s website is tomkealy.com.
Peter Korn, the Center’s founder and former Executive Director, has been a furniture maker since 1974. He is the author of Woodworking Basics: Mastering the Essentials of Craftsmanship (Taunton Press, 2003), The Woodworker’s Guide to Hand Tools (Taunton Press, 1998), and Why We Make Things and Why It Matters (David R. Godine, 2013). Prior to founding the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in 1993, Peter spent six years as Program Director at Colorado’s Anderson Ranch Arts Center and four years as adjunct Associate Professor at Drexel University. His award-winning furniture has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums. Peter’s approach to woodworking calls for a balance between traditional hand skills and effective machine use. “Craftsmanship,” says Peter, “is more than a set of skills; through the process of creating an object, we transform ourselves.” His website is peterkorn.com.
Open to solid-intermediate and advanced woodworkers.
