About

An opportunity to visit designer Rachael South in her studio as she demonstrates various types of seat weaving, including chair caning, willow skien making and rush seat making.

Willow skien making has recently been placed on the Heritage Crafts Association Red List, and Rachael is particularly passionate about showcasing this skill. It’s a lengthy process which includes using a cleave, shave and upright to make fine skeins from white willow. The woven seats made from the skeins are intricate and decorative.

Caned chairs are also on view in the studio: this technique uses the bark of the rattan palm woven in a six-way pattern.

Each year, Rachael harvests her own rushes on the Somerset Levels, to be used for rush seating. Some of this work is on display, with Rachael demonstrating the twisting method for making rush seats.