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The Chairmaker's Toolbox

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Increasing access and equity in the field of chairmaking. Founded by & for under-represented woodworkers & chair nerds.

10/13/2026

A little Windsor stool class photo dump 🪑🪵

Back in September, Annalise led the 2026 Susan R. Ratnoff Teaching Fellowship petergalbert’s shop in Maine! Five days of turning, shaving, fitting joints, and getting into all the ins and outs of Windsor stool making, with Hán-Ruì, 涵睿, Han-Ray Jahn assisting along the way.

Phil, Peaches Meld , Jaime Jaime , and Nina بتبا Nabizadeh got to dig into the whole process, from working through the tools and techniques to understanding the joinery and figuring out how to make it all work in their own shops.

There was a whole lot to take home beyond just a stool! This group was warm, safe, and accepting, with room for different backgrounds and experience levels. There was space to ask questions, learn from each other, make connections with other chairmaker’s, and leave feeling a little more confident about what comes next. One student shared that “gaining community along building is the best thing that could have happened”. Another called Annalise “one of the best teachers they’d ever had!” 🥹

A whole lot of learning, a whole lot of shavings, an abundance of support, and four more folks heading home ready to make some stools. Sounds like a pretty fantastic week to us. ❤️

Thank you to everyone who made it possible

09/16/2026

A little Lost Art Press CMT week photo dump 🪑✨

Five days of chairmaking with Chris, Grace and Lisa.
We are so lucky to get to offer this class year after year since the beginning 💙💙

Watching these folks settle in, work hard, help and support one another, ask questions, troubleshoot, laugh, make and bond together is exactly the kind of week we always hope for.

There is something really special about watching the chairs take shape along with new skills and a whole bunch of new connections.

Big thanks to everyone involved in making this one happen- it means so much. Thank you especially to this lively group of students- can’t wait to see what you make next!

Make sure you scroll to the end for big smiles and finished chairs 😘🪑 ✨

09/04/2026

Although we’ve been quiet on social media lately… we haven’t been quiet in real life human form!

💫

So many wonderful classes and connections being made this summer. a meyer and LN Adams led a sculptural stool class a few weeks ago. In just 3 days students made parts and assembled stools using both hand tools and machines.

They got to soaking up Annie’s carving knowledge and really personalize. Scroll through to see the joy!

Some sweet words from one of the students “ I just wanted to give a big thank you…it is rare to find spaces that meet so many parts of myself. I am often in the minority in woodworking spaces…I was able to find space and ease in the workshop this weekend.”

♥️🪑♥️🪑♥️

06/25/2026

Big smiles and lots of thumbs up from this week-long 2 slat post & rung chair class taught by Jeff Lefkowitz and assisted by Haniel 👍👍

💫”This class had such good chemistry. I think it was the most fun group I’ve been around for a workshop!”

Making a chair you’ve never built before in a week is no small thing. Carly, Julia, Petra, and Alicia came from different corners of the country to spend the week in Jeff’s shop—learning, laughing, figuring things out, pushing their skills, cheering each other on, and walking away with finished chairs full of their own little touches. 🔥🪑

Our hope always is that a class offers more than just the thing you came to build. New skills, yes. More confidence, absolutely. But also new people in your orbit ✨ more folks to swap ideas with, ask questions to, keep in touch with, and feel connected to long after the week wraps up.

A huge thank you to Jeff for welcoming everyone into his shop and so generously sharing his space, tools, and knowledge. And thank you to Haniel for assisting, supporting students all week long, and helping make the whole thing feel so joyful.

We loved this one. 💙

04/27/2026

❤‍🔥 Meet Haniel Wides. ❤‍🔥 … if you haven’t already!
literally is a longtime member and contributor of the CMT community and will be assisting Jeff Lefkowitz in the upcoming Beginning 2-Slat Chair class—just a few short weeks away.

Haniel took Jeff’s 2-Slat “Teaching the Teachers” course two years ago, they have continued to deepen their chairmaking practice—staying in conversation with Jeff while building skills through ongoing making, learning, and explorations.

We’re grateful to be one of the places that’s been part of that journey, and what a gift for this year’s students to learn from both Jeff and Haniel!

Swipe through to see some stunners!

“Haniel (they/them) is an artist, furniture maker, welder, and woodworking instructor who has spent over 10 years working in the trades. They strive to approach woodcraft with a socially and historically conscious lens to fuse aesthetics and philosophies including labor history, Q***r theory, Jewish mysticism, and pop culture with techniques of pre-industrial woodworking to make objects that blur the lines between sculpture and furniture.”

03/22/2026

Last week, 5 members of the CMT community came together in Houston for a residency with the Museum of Fine Arts at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens.

This residency grew from a shared goal: connecting people with craft through direct experience and expanding the story of who craft belongs to. By building in the open, we invited visitors not only to see how the work is made, but also who is making it and engage with us in meaningful ways.

All of this unfolded within the landscape of Bayou Bend: lush gardens, open grass, flowing fountains, shifting weather that moved from heat and humidity to rain and cold. The views never got old. We worked just beneath the Bayou Bend Glazed Porch, where a collection of early American Windsor chairs live. Objects shaped over generations and still in use today. Building in conversation with that history, while knowing the chairs we made would join that space, collapsed time in a way that felt rare. We got to show that past and present can still be held together through the act of making. How cool is that?! The chairs will continue to be used by the community for years to come- many of those people being able to say that they saw the chairs being made.

What unfolded last week was more than a demonstration. It was a residency of coming together, learning from one another in real time, sharing space, tools, and process with anyone who walked by. Building 2 chairs in a week; we had to speed up. To listen more closely. To pay attention not just to our own process, but to how others work: their skills, their decisions, their rhythms, and adapt on the fly. We worked with borrowed tools, shared knowledge freely, and let the work evolve collectively in ways it wouldn’t have if we were working alone in a private space.

Each of us left with new ideas and a deeper understanding….And in CMT fashion, the community that grew from this experience expanded 10 fold! A separate post coming on this 💫

We cannot thank enough for partnering with us, hosting this residency, and continuing to support makers in craft.

03/06/2026

CMT is coming to Houston next week and we’d love to hang out ✨talk chairs, nerd out about how good community feels and meet you in real life human form!

Several of us will be in the city next week working on an exciting project. We thought it would be really fun to set aside some quality time to see you! If you live in the Houston area or know someone who does send them our way! We’ll be parked up at:

Bayou Heights Bier Garten
Tuesday March 10th
6pm till whenever!

If you can not make it on Tuesday night but want to swing by, jump on a shave horse, and keep us company we’ll be at the MFAH Bayou Bend location Wednesday-Sunday building some chairs and doing demos!

Feel free to reach out for more details. Hope to see you in Texas 🤠

02/10/2026

✨Applications Open✨ Beginner 2 Slat Post and Rung Chair taught by and Assisted by CMT Alumni .literally
You don’t want to miss this dynamic duo. We have 4 full scholarship spots available which includes tuition and materials.

Class dates: Sunday May 24- Saturday May 30
Applications Close: March 20 at midnight

This class has been a popular one year after year! It is a packed week full of information and hands on learning of traditional post and rung chair skills.

Find the application and lots more information about the class on our website under “upcoming classes”. We can’t wait to hear from you!

12/01/2025

Final introductions from 2025 Sawyer Made x CMT Chair Design Class is Ed Ponti ✨

“It was absolutely encouraging to see the future of chairmaking as being so much more inclusive (and so much more q***r) than I could have imagined! “

Ed is a woodworker and furniture maker based in Detroit, Michigan, and originally from England. He returned to woodworking (turning a long-time hobby into a full-time practice) after studying and working in architecture, and latterly, community non-profit work. He focuses on custom furniture, small-scale builds and developing his own pieces, with an interest in clear forms and practical, well-made work.

“Spending time in George’s space and working alongside such good people made me completely rethink the sort of work I want (and need?!) to do. The class and time spent in Vermont totally reoriented my focus.”

Ya’ll! Ed is working towards organizing interdisciplinary projects and meetings with q***r/poc woodworkers in the Detroit area- If you want to be involved reach out!

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