The chair maker was a travelling craftsman who travelled from farm to farm to make new chairs or re-furnish old ones. Housed and fed by the customer, he had to be able to produce chairs from a tree to be felled to mulching with dried rushes.
He had to carry with him all his tools for felling and cutting down the tree, trimming the legs, uprights, backrests and bars. The washed and dried rush straw was braided on the « straw bars » to make up the seat. The straw could be left raw or finished with a finish of whitewashed rye straw which gave it its golden sheen.
Illustrations :
– Photograph of Jacques Chica, chairwoman, carrying the rushes washed in Mussidan, 1980s (2008.0.722.3) (Collection Chica ©Musée André Voulgre)
– Photograph of the drying and bundling of rushes in Mussidan, 1980s (2008.0.722.5) (Collection Chica ©Musée André Voulgre)
– Photograph by Jacques Chica, shaping a post at Mussidan, 1980s (2008.0.722.8) (Chica Collection ©Musée André Voulgre)