Glen Rundell - Chair Maker

Glen was taught by two of America's finest Windsor chair makers, Curtis Buchanan of Jonesborough Tennessee and Peter Galbert of Sterling Massachusetts. Bringing these skills back to Australia, Glen has now been making chairs for a number of years and teaching others the craft too from his Kyneton Workshop where he also makes commission pieces and teaches a small selection of other traditional wood working classes, such as American Shaker Oval box making and assists fellow Lost Trades Fair tradesman, George Smithwick with the Coopered Wooden Bucket Class.

The traditional techniques that Glen uses have remained unchanged for 250 years. Seats are ‘bodged’ out with an ads  (hence the name ‘chair bodger’). Draw knives and spoke shaves create the spindles. Unlike furniture making, every join is a compound angle, expertly calculated in the design, resulting in absolute strength, structural integrity and comfort.


Glen is one of very few traditional woodworkers who mills his own timber, providing him with an intimate knowledge of the timber he utilises in his handmade chairs and furniture. Some chairs being made from iconic trees from some of Melbourne's most prestigious parks and gardens, such as Fitzroy, Exhibition and Treasury Gardens in Melbourne and the Kyneton Botanical and Daylesford Botanical Gardens in country Victoria.

Each one of Glen's American style Windsor Chairs are made by hand, with chair making tools that have remained unchanged for centuries. Each chair is unique and carry the tell tale mark of the hand tools expertly utilised to make them.

Book a chair making course with Glen Rundell

Buy a handcrafted Glen Rundell chair

Contact Glen directly for all furniture commission enquiries