The Marchmont Workshop
Marchmont Workshop, the first UK facility for traditional rush-seated chairs in 54 years, led by Sam Cooper and Richard Platt, blends heritage and innovation in the Scottish Borders.
Edition 3 Feature
Words by: Sam Cooper and Richard Platt
Location: Scottish Borders, UK
Photo Credits: We Are Makers (Documentary stills)
Watch our feature length documentary including The Marchmont Workshop
The Marchmont Workshop, established at the start of 2020, is the first new facility making traditional rush-seated chairs to open in the UK in 54 years. Set up by chair makers Sam Cooper and Richard Platt, we specialise in historic ladder-back chairs in the style of Philip Clissett and Ernest Gimson – a style with a legacy that began in 1890.
Chair making was once a vibrant, almost ubiquitous village craft, with endless regional variations, but the number of practitioners steadily dwindled. Indeed, in 2018, we started an apprenticeship with Lawrence Neal, then the last rush-seated chair maker in the UK. We are now reviving the practice as the sixth generation of chair makers since Clissett’s day.
