• Styles
• Features
• Structure
• Chairmaking
• Purchasing

Chairmaker Resources
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• Chairs
• Tools/Turning

Nestled in the northwest corner of Illinois, stands the historic brick home of Bill & Chris Gullberg. Bill has been making Windsor chairs professionally for twelve years. "I started making furniture when Chris and I were first married. We were very young, in college, and needed furniture. I worked part time in a store which received merchandise in crates, so I had all the free wood the crates provided. I made tables, coffee tables, end tables, shelves, corner cabinets for us and then family, and started selling some to professors at the College. Chairs were intimidating to me. Finally, years later I saw that Drew Langsner was giving a class in Windsors, a style that had always appealed to me, and complimented my handcrafted tables. I had the money, time, and inclination all at the same time, and headed for Drew's place about 12 years ago. After taking his class, I have been making Windsors ever since."

Bill's chairs can now be found at such historical sites as Lincoln's New Salem, Illinois, the Old State Capital of Illinois, and Declaration of Independence signer Samuel Walton's home in Augusta, Georgia, as well as in noteworthy private homes from the East Coast to the West Coast, including the home of a U.S. Senator.

About five years ago Bill & Chris started the 'Windsor Academy' to promote the skills of handcrafting 18th-century furniture, particularly Windsor Chairs.  They offer a basic bow back Windsor chairmaking course once per month. No prior experience is required for this class but it involves a week of intensive work, punctuated by rest, great food, and good conversation at the Gullberg's Inn. "It's a great week of life!"

"Chris is a wonderful cook and hostess, providing home cooked meals for all the students at the Windsor Academy. She also has a great eye for color and graphic design. She made our website and she finishes a lot of the chairs."

"Our classes are distinguished from many other classes offered in Windsor chairs in that (1) we have small class size (maximum 3 students per class); (2) the students make each and every part of the chair, including turning the legs and stretchers; and, (3) we have a 100% completion rate on our classes. Often we get in an interesting field trip, and sometimes it is a real "field" trip - see students John and Johny Ashton with their felled white oak, below. While students do not fell trees, they do sometimes get to watch professional lumbermen do that."

The Windsor Academy now offers advanced classes, which include the tall and elegant comb back Windsor chair and the birdcage Windsor chair. These classes build on and hone the skills developed in the prerequisite bow back class.