Adjectives are for A-holes

A 19th-century sign for a chairmaker’s shop. Probably Dutch. Likely authentic. Kinda weird.

I don’t call my chairs “Welsh stick chairs” for good reasons.

1. I’m 2 percent Welsh. I don’t live in Wales. I wasn’t born or raised in Wales.

2. I don’t use wood from Wales to make my chairs (very important).

3. I’m American and didn’t grow up with the British caste system that shapes the lives of the people in the U.K.

4. I use American woods, tools and methods of work.

But I love Welsh stick chairs, and my work is undeniable influenced by them – their shapes, forms and proportions.¹ I regularly visit Wales to study the furniture. And I collect every photo of every chair that has even a whiff of Welsh.

So if I cannot make a Welsh stick chair, who can?

Welsh chairmaker Chris Williams and I have talked about this question a lot during our friendship – usually over glasses of red wine. I think it’s correct to say that the chairs he makes are 100 percent Welsh. Chris is genetically 99 percent Welsh. He was born and raised there. He has devoted his life to the hedges and forests of the land. And he builds chairs with local materials and old methods.

All that is well and good.

But then I once asked Chris the following question: What about the chef from Manhattan who can cook fried chicken, biscuits and grits as well as any grandmother in Alabama? The chef has never been to the South. They trained at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). And they studied the science and history of Southern food with great passion.

The food looks, smells and tastes exactly like Southern food. But it came from a Manhattan chef.

Is it Southern food?

Chris said: “It’s a good question. I can’t answer it.”

After much thought, I think I can answer it. I’ve pondered Chris’ question a lot since our talk. I think it’s an important thing for woodworkers to consider. Can a Methodist make Shaker furniture? Can a Seattle woodworker make Tidewater furniture? Can a 21st-century woodworker make Federal furniture?

Here’s my take on it.