Leo Windsor chair
A modern Windsor chair with refined form, characterised by a geometry of parallel lines and sweeping curves. The seating position of the chair allows for the user to relax into it or it can be used more formally as a dining chair.
Available in Oak, English Ash, Textured Ebonised Ash
Available with or without armrests and optional upholstered seat pad
Dimensions - 800 x 600 x 500
Handmade to order.
Please enquire for prices and current lead times.
On show:
19/07/19 - Messums Wiltshire, Material: Wood
17/08/19 - Brook studio, Open studio
19/09/19 - Designjunction, The Canopy
“When a simple design is well executed, it belies the hard work and development that led to its conception”
It’s often said that when a simple design is well executed, it belies the hard work and development that led to its conception. In terms of furniture – it doesn’t arrive much simpler than the reductive design of the vernacular Windsor chair, with production originating some 300 years ago, deep in the woods of High Wycombe.
Arguably, in that time, Windsor chairs have not changed a great deal. A Windsor chair, by definition, is made up of spindle components that meet together in a solid seat. Made ‘in the green’ it becomes stronger as the wood dries progressively and shrinks, tightening the joints - all components working in harmony.
Windsor chairs are still made in this way, using traditional wedged mortise and tenon joinery. However, with advancements in timber drying we no longer need to use green (wet) timber and traditionally abundant Elm and Beech have been substituted in favour of Oak and Ash.
For the past year we have been developing the ‘Leo’ Windsor chair in collaboration with Coventry based chairmakers Sitting Firm – drawing on the technical expertise and manufacturing power of the 30 year old British company, to realise the project.
As has become synonymous with the Windsor archetype, there is a sculptural quality to the Leo chair characterised by its sophisticated geometry of parallel lines, sweeping curves and the negative space formed between them. Without embellishment or novelty features to hide behind, a contemporary Windsor chair becomes an exercise in refinement of form and an expression of craftsmanship.
Leo respectfully combines both traditional hand craft and modern production methods. The steam bent components are produced in small batches using a steam chamber but the seats that once would have been shaped by adze and eye are now machined using CNC before being individually hand assembled, wedge-tenoned, sanded and oil finished.
Combine this with the use of sustainably harvested timber, and you might have a Windsor chair that remains as relevant to contemporary living now as it would have been three centuries ago when the market town of Windsor was a centre of trade for chairs.