Curtis Buchanan

Curtis Buchanan makes chairs full time in the small shop he built behind his house in the heart of Tennessee’s oldest town, Jonesborough. He also tends a robust vegetable garden and occasionally sells some of his produce at the thriving weekly Jonesborough farmer’s market, which he co-founded. He and his wife, Marilyn, have two daughters: Summer, a key employee at the Jonesborough library, and Maria, a singer and actor in Asheville.

What advice do you give to aspiring chairmakers? “You can do it! Find yourself a small town and settle down right in the middle of it; they’ll be happy to adopt you.”