My name is Jonathan (Jock) Jones. I am a master chair builder having been
formally trained in the art of Windsor chair construction and design by Curtis
Buchanan and Michael Dunbar.
I am the only Windsor chair maker in the Intermountain West. Windsor chair
construction requires the use of both green and dry hardwoods that simply
do not grow in the West. This is why Windsor chair making is an Eastern craft
and why nearly all chair makers are located east of the Mississippi River.
I make my chairs one at a time by hand using the same methods and tools
as the colonial chair makers did 250 years ago. I do not build them by hand
for old time sake or nostalgia. I build them by hand because these chairs
were not designed to be made by machines….they were designed to be made
by hand. When the machine age arrived the construction of beautiful well
built Windsor's disappeared. Windsor Chairs simply cannot be mass-produced
by machines and retain their delicate grace and strength. Factory made chairs
are heavy and clunky. They lack the delicate grace and charm of the wonderful
chairs made by old time master chair builders.
