***Update–Due to the flooding in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024, Silver River Center for Chair Caning lost their River Arts District location along with 80% of the neighborhood and 3/4 of their shop.
Consider donating to or sharing their GoFundMe fundraiser. Thanks for helping them rebuild in a new location (Spring/Summer 2025):
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-our-chair-weaving-school
Silver River Center for Chair Caning is operated by two chair nerds on a mission to cultivate and inspire a reverence for a worldwide chair caning legacy.
Our vision is to promote an enthusiasm for the craft through education, published work, restoration, and travel. Be on the lookout for our instructional manual to be published by Blue Hills Press in 2025! Watch our @SilverRiverChairs YouTube channel for virtual tours, weaving guides, and lots of nerdy goodness.
After decades of attempting to dispel the myth that chair caning is a dying art, we now see how quickly it can get swept away. The catastrophic flooding in the Appalachian mountains was devastating to a community rich in craft. We are so grateful to the chair nerd community for reaching out, sending words of encouragement, and donating to our rebuilding efforts. We want to honor your generosity and kindness in our new location on Main St. Weaverville, just 10 min North of Asheville.
We empower everyone to restore their own chairs and to encourage makers to incorporate woven seating in their designs. We will be teaching small classes at our shop in Weaverville as well as offsite at John C Campbell Folk School & Arrowmont. We are building an online school (with a potential launch date of late 2025) so that we can expand our reach and offer classes at a lower cost than traveling to North Carolina.
Silver River is an official education center of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Memberships include The SeatWeavers’ Guild, The Furniture Society, The American Craft Council, The River Arts District Association, and we are a heritage member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild (Brandy is a 4th Generation Chair Weaver). We are proud to honor a family tradition, the craft, and all chair nerds (past, present, and future) with Silver River Center for Chair Caning.
Silver River is open Mon-Fri 10-5 by appointment or chance in our new location Spring 2025–
- MUSEUM UPDATE: Our new location has limited space for a museum display as large as it was in the River Arts District but we will be showcasing the diversity of the craft in a new way – stay tuned for our online gallery and our traveling chair weaving exhibit. Our new location will have fun displays of #canespotting, historic WNC chairs, and ephemera.
- Our classes range from beginner to advanced tutorials, and we will eventually be accepting apprenticeships once we get properly settled in the new space.
- Watch a virtual tour on our YouTube channel. Learn about materials, history, and process of 8 styles of chair seat weaving.
- You can still enjoy the reference library and educate yourself on ancient and global traditions.
- We launched over 30 small chair weaving businesses during our 10 years in the River Arts District. We are excited to continue training and advising aspiring weavers in our new location.
- Due to our focus on education, we will be doing selective restorations. We are glad to refer you to a couple of our students who operate their own businesses in WNC.
- We will eventually be accepting donations of chairs for student practice. If you want to donate, please text us a photo of your chair.
- We are glad to give remote advice on chair weaving projects – cost depends on level of assistance needed. Email us a photo along with your questions.
- Sales of chair nerd t-shirts, stickers, postcards, and bookmarks support the proliferation of chair nerd culture.
- Hire us to speak and demonstrate at museums, craft shows, schools, woodworkers associations, etc. A Brief History of Chair Caning is a slideshow timeline that covers 5,000 years and spans the globe. It is rich in historical images, astonishing displays of weaving materials, and contemporary makers with woven seating.
- We love hosting field trips and group classes/demos/tours
Note: Our restoration waitlist is often 6 months-1 year out. Restoration inquiries should be emailed to [email protected] and should include photos of the chair attached to the email.
Corporate & Board Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
(4/1/NCHG)