Synopsis:This Arts and Crafts-style chair would fit comfortably in a dining room or a library. With its curved back rest and angled joinery, it offers plenty of construction challenges, but a variety of jigs and templates make the curves and angles easier to handle. The back legs are shaped using a template, and a router box simplifies cutting the angled mortises. Another template ensures consistent curves in all of the chair rails. The rails of the back rest are curved on their front and back faces, and the crest rail is arched on its top edge. Both rails are mortised to hold the back splat, a curved assembly of narrow strips.

I designed this chair in 1993 for a design competition sponsored by the Maine Arts Commission. My intention was to design a chair that would be sturdy, comfortable, and clearly derivative of Arts and Crafts styling, but still…