Bringing the Chairshop to the Masses

The Centerbrook Chairshop, where staff design and fabricate a chair under expert tutelage, has been closely held over its eight years. We’ve written about it on this website, profiled the chairs in our book Centerbrook 4, and last summer mounted a pop up exhibit at the Mystic Seaport. But the best parts, the presentations of the chairs by their makers, and the celebration of the winning chair, have been closed door events.

Not anymore. We want to celebrate the creators of the three latest chairs with a wider audience and let you help us pick the winner. You can find a link to vote at the bottom of this post.

Last Friday, we held a socially distant unveiling, which featured a beautifully orchestrated presentation broadcast remotely to our staff. Jeff Riley and Patrick McCauley described the Chairshop’s history and the creativity, skill, and hard work that goes into making a chair from scratch. We then heard from the creators themselves – Cassie Archer, Ben Mayne, and Hugo Fenaux – who described the concept and execution of their chairs.

We’ve invited our staff, most of whom are working remotely, to return to the office this week to experience the chairs for themselves, and then help us evaluate them. While it is true that every Chairshop participant is a winner, we need to give someone bragging rights.

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Cassie (left), Hugo (middle), Ben (right)

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Cassie Archer

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Hugo Fenaux

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Ben Mayne

This is where you come in. Watch the videos above, and then click below to vote for your favorite. On Friday, we’ll announce which chair came out on top. Hopefully you’ll appreciate them as much as we do.

Voting has closed. Click to find out who won!