Charles and Henry Greene started developing their furniture between1906 and 1912 with the Arts and Crafts style. The furniture was designed to match specific residential commissions. I had read and researched their furniture. I decided to make a rendition of their Blacker House chair. I believe chairs are one of the most challenging projects to build.

I started by making a trial chair with some inexpensive wood so I could learn and make my mistakes on the trial chair. It also allowed me to determine the best method to join the individual pieces together. Photos of the trial chair are shown below.

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I made the actual chair out of mahogany with ebony plugs and walnut strips connecting the arms to the legs. I added a tree design on the middle back slat. The joinery is a combination of traditional mortise and tenon and long walnut pieces joining the front arms to the legs and back legs to the top piece of the chair back.

The leather seat pad was made by John Shay’s upholstery. It sits in a first floor room next to the Seymour table I made.