Synopsis: Furniture makers have been tweaking and changing the design of the Windsor chair ever since the first one was built, and Curtis Buchanan is no exception. See how he designed a contemporary version of the classic Windsor with a detailed view of what changed and why.

Curtis Buchanan had built more than 1,000 traditional Windsors, all of them painted, when his friend Velda Foxx asked him to design a contemporary version that would be clear finished. Buchanan used one of his traditional fan-back armchairs as a starting point, importing the principle joinery and angles to his new design. Then he set about altering the shaping, turning, and other details to express a fresh spirit. He eliminated all of the fan-back’s carving and voluptuous turning, choosing to focus attention on the wood and a simpler set of lines.

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