Clients ask why a chair takes 11 weeks. It is a fair question. So we followed one. A wingback dining chair in American walnut and mohair velvet. A set of 8, for a house in DHA Lahore. Here is where the time goes.
Weeks 1 to 3: timber and frame
Week 1 is selection. Walnut boards are pulled from the kiln store. We check moisture at 8 per cent. Anything above 10 is rejected. Grain is matched across all 8 chairs. The back legs come from one board. The figure runs the same way.
Week 2 is marking out. Every joint is scribed by hand from full-size templates. Mortise and tenon throughout. No dowels, no screws in the frame. Week 3 is cutting and dry fitting. The frame is assembled without glue and sat on. If it creaks, it comes apart.
Weeks 4 to 6: shaping and finish
Week 4 the frame is glued with hide glue and clamped for 48 hours. Week 5 is shaping. Legs are tapered and arms rounded. Spokeshaves and rasps, not routers. Hand tools leave a surface a machine cannot. Week 6 is sanding and the first coats of oil.
A chair is the hardest piece of furniture to make. It must be strong, light and beautiful, all at once.
Rafiq Ahmed, workshop master
Weeks 7 to 11: upholstery
Week 7 the frames go to the upholstery floor. Jute webbing is stretched and tacked. Steel springs are hand-tied with 8-way lashing. Week 8 is the first stuffing. Coir, then horsehair, held with stitched edges. This is the slow part. It is why the seat stays firm for 20 years.
Week 9 the mohair velvet arrives from the mill. It is rested flat for 3 days before cutting. Pile direction is marked on every panel. Week 10 is cutting, sewing and fitting. The cover is worked by hand. Pulled and tacked. Adjusted and pulled again.
Week 11 is finishing and checks. Hand-stitched double piping. A brass glide fitted to each foot. Then 3 people of different weights sit in it. Then it is wrapped in cotton, not plastic. Our own van delivers it. Eleven weeks. Made once. Made properly.
