Welsh Bardic Chair

This is a Bardic Chair, “what is a Bardic Chair” you ask? Well it’s a chair built for a traditional Welsh festival called the Eisteddfod. It is won by a bard or poet for writing the best poem. Here’s more on the Eisteddfod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisteddfod. Being asked to build one of these chairs is a massive honour to any craftsmen in Wales. It is a great opportunity to build essentially a throne for the best bard. So being commissioned at the age of 17, to build this chair was amazing. So I needed a stunning design. I’m happy that I was able to deliver for the 2013 Powys Eisteddfod.

The chair is built mainly of oak, a massive 20” wide 7’ tall board fills the back. Along side of that are two boards of walnut. The seat is also one board, originally 2” thick. The seat and the back had to be flattened by hand plane. The two are joined by a hidden dado and bolts with threaded inserts, a impeccably strong joint. The arm/leg is two separate parts of steam bent oak, laminated together. There are also stainless steel cables to add another dimension and detail. These are crimped at either end inside the lamination. The writing is 2013 in Roman numerals, and is a router-based inlay.

The chair was photographed on my parent’s lawn, showing the view of the valley.