***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)
At American Caning Company we repair or replace almost all types of chair seat weaving; traditional, French, Star of David, Daisy, Snowflake, Spiderweb, plastic, and sheet caning with over 30 types and color matching.
Other specialties include; ash, reed, and oak splint, seagrass, Danish cord, paper and pre-twisted natural rush, Shaker tape, hickory bark, chair gluing, repair and restoration.
Call or email today to discuss your project and to set up an appointment!
Cottage Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
(6/1/23)
Angie Reid’s Furniture Refinishing and Caning preserves memories and brings old furniture new life! The business located on the border of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, serves the Maritime provinces in both Canada and Maine.
I started my business after stripping and refinishing the stairs in my Victorian Era home. Shortly after launching my refinishing business, a neighbor brought me a cane chair in need of a new seat.
While learning hole-to-hole caning I discovered a talent and passion for seat weaving. I am proficient in hole-to-hole caning, sheet cane, French hand cane, Danish cord, rush and reed weaving.
In terms of refinishing, I restore heirlooms and breath new life into pieces with paint and/or stain. I specialize in custom colour staining and also wicker repair.
(2/1/23)
Antiques by Futura–Founded by John and Carol Bessone in 1992, is now operated by son Robert and daughter Regina. Boasting a 10,000 square foot showroom full of Antique and Vintage furniture and decor that we’ve been collecting for well over 30 years and have available for purchase.
We also have a full-service repair and refinishing shop with a complete seat weaving room to take care of your chair caning needs. We do Cane, Rush, Danish cord, Rattan Wicker, and Upholstery repair as well as Refinishing and Restoring Furniture of all types. Local pick-up and delivery are also available.
Call or email today for your chair caning, upholstery or refinishing job appointment. When you come for that appointment, be sure to peruse the antique furniture in the showroom, you’ll be glad you did!
(2/01/23)
B-Reseated Chair Weaving has 25+ years experience in all forms of woven seating repair & restoration: hand cane, pressed cane, fiber rush, natural rush (hand-twisted & pre-twisted), Danish cord, splint, leather, etc.
We also offer our customers stripping and refinishing services and free estimates.
Our customers include:
- PQ Brands/David Iatesta Studios in Stevensville, MD
- Martin’s Chair Company, New Holland PA
- McLain-Wiesand Home Furnishings, Baltimore MD
- The Dobbin House Restaurant, Gettysburg PA
Our seat weaving work for Smilow Design has been featured in Martha Stewart Living (September 2015) and Elle Decor (December 2014).
Charter & Business Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild Inc.®
(SUB-TCGF-9/19/25)
Barbara’s Caning and Weaving, also known in the region as Broward Furniture Refinishing & Caning is located in Fort Lauderdale and has served Broward County and the surrounding area for over 25 years, reweaving chair seats.
Owner Barbara Marx, started weaving many years ago when she needed her own four chairs re-caned. She was living in New York City at the time, in the 1980s, and decided to learn the chair caning craft on her own.
Barbara liked caning so much that she later went into the seat weaving business, providing services of hole caning, pressed cane webbing, paper rush and repairs to wicker furniture, too.
Always up for a challenge, not only do we work on chair seats, but also love seats, benches, and even cabinet doors on yachts!
Our services also include repair and re-gluing of chairs. We do work for several local antique dealers in Florida and New York, too.
Call or email today so we can discuss your chair caning needs. Then we’ll set up an appointment and give directions to our shop!
(4/01/23)
BeSeated.ca has been providing seatweaving services to Canada’s national capital area for over fifty years.
NEW OWNER & NEW LOCATION: In 2019 Michael Freen acquired the business from Pierre Amyotte, the previous owner, and relocated Be Seated to Ottawa, Ontario.
We provide quality repairs to furniture woven in a variety of materials, including hand and pre-woven cane, Danish cord, rush, seagrass, reed, splint and rawhide.
We also carry seatweaving supplies for customers who would like to repair their own furniture.
Please have a look at our website for a full list of supplies and services we have available and check out our Instagram for photos of our latest work.
Proud Cottage Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.® (TSWG)
(Sub-2/18/25)
Carrie Weiss, owner of Black Swamp Seat Weaving, LTD, was taught to weave by her grandmother at the early age of 15.
Her grandmother patiently taught her to take pride in her work, weave the best she possibly can, and to continually challenge herself.
After 45+ years, she continues to do this to this very day.
Over the years since Carrie first began weaving, she has expanded her abilities to include ALL forms of weaving, such as, hand cane, blind cane, cane webbing, rush, splint, and wicker.
She works on weaving projects for individuals, museums, refinishers, upholsterers, interior decorators, and many others.
Carrie also treats every project with the care and meticulous attention it deserves, while taking on some of the most difficult projects.
Every project is a challenge that she is confident she will complete.
Not only does Carrie care about the finished project and the happiness it will bring her customers, but she also loves what she does, and it shows.
(11/05/TC)
Welcome to Brad’s Backcountry Woodshop in Big Bear Lake California. Located high in the mountains of southern California I create new wooden furniture pieces as well as refinish and restore the old. I will fix dings, dents, raised or missing veneer, broken and missing pieces, spindle turnings, reweaving your cane, rush and splint chair seats, polishing old finishes.
Fine instruments to chairs, simple to complex, French polishing, color matching, toner, glazing, grain filling, these are just a few processes I take each piece through. Each piece already has a story to tell and when I am done it will have many more to tell.
These are just some of the things I have had the honor of working on and bringing back its original beauty to last another 100 years. When working on old pieces of furniture, I always wonder about the hands that have touched the piece prior to mine, the conversations that took place around a hundred-year-old dining room table or the music created by a 110-year-old reed organ that no one outside that room has heard today.
I started working with wood at a young age, as my Grandparents on both sides and father had all the necessary tools and knowledge about woodworking for me to become comfortable in working with wood. My Mom also as early as I can remember was bringing home antiques and of course, most of them needed repair.
Without knowing it at the time I was not only learning how to repair wood furniture but also was paying attention to the construction of older furniture, joinery and finish used. For long-lasting furniture, I realized proper joints, finish and proportion is essential to a great piece.
Please browse my site and see what you like! If you do not see what you are looking for in the site, just go to the contact page and tell me what you need! I am willing to work with you to create the wooden piece you have in mind or to fix whatever’s broken.
Just e-mail pictures to me so I can give you a ballpark estimate. I will pick up and deliver pieces close to Big Bear Lake, CA. If you happen to live outside California we can schedule or discuss pick up or delivery options.
Thanks for stopping by and let’s connect on social, too!
(TC-5/31/25)
Martha’s home-based business, Briar Creek Studio is located in the Upper Catskills of the Southern Tier of New York near Oneonta.
She has over 30 years of experience teaching and offering all types of chair caning, rush, splint and Shaker tape seat repair.
Work is of professional quality and prices are reasonable. Free estimates. Call or email for hours, prices and possible pick-up.
(SUB 1/31/22)
Bruce H. Kreymborg Restoration & Conservation is a full-service family operated antique restoration and conservation business begun by Bruce H. Kreymborg in 1967.
Master craftsmen Bruce and his four associates provide major and minor furniture restorations and also restore metal furniture, statues, stained glass, mosaic, mirror frames, fiberglass pieces, upholstery and more. Serving Southhampton and all the surrounding area.
Daughter Katherine K. Wilson, owner of Weaving Restoration provides all the chair caning and wicker furniture restorations for the company.
We’re open year-round, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm, Saturdays by appointment only, closed Sundays.
We’re a complete restoration source, meeting all your restoration needs! No job is too big or too small.
Corporate Members of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
(SUB 9/2/21) Refinishing
(SUB 9/2/21) Upholstery
Cane and Able is a repair and restoration service that for over ten years has worked in the local community offering individual attention to each project.
Customers are private clients, local museums and area antique dealers in Monmouth County. Services are woven and pressed cane, fibre rush, natural rush, Shaker tape, and splint weaving. Also chair repair, part replacements and duplication, stripping and refinishing. Free estimates, pick-up and delivery additional.
Charter Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.® (TSWG)
(4/1/23)
Chafin’s Chair Caning and Seat Weaving conveniently located between Huntsville and Birmingham, AL, has served Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia since 1999.
Services include caning (hand, pressed, and blind), rush, binder cane, seagrass, Danish cord, Shaker tape, and reed. We also offer classes, re-gluing, custom baskets, and hand-tied brooms. Call for pricing and hours.
(MO/23/TC)
Chairperson-Antiques–Owner Mical Wilmoth Carton is a chair seat weaving expert with nearly 50 years of seat weaving experience. She specializes in the repair of all types of hand woven furniture including:
- Hand and Machine Cane
- Danish Cord and Danish Weave Cane
- Fibre, Natural and Pretwisted Rush
- Shaker Tape
- Binder Cane and Porch Weave
- Hong Kong Seagrass
- Cotton Cord
- Wicker & more!
Please visit the “Chairs” page on my website for additional pictures of chairs reseated over the years. Contact by phone or email is welcome.
Founder & Cottage Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
(TC-2/13/26)
Chair caning expert Helen Cribbs, owner of Chairs Caned in Delaware, OH (2019 new city location) provides experienced and fair-priced handwoven and pressed cane, plus wide binding cane in several patterns. (I now refrain from taking on wicker & fibre rush).
I have been in this business for over 30 years and since I work from home so my pricing stays reasonable. When possible, I offer pick-up and delivery within a reasonable distance from my shop.
Several furniture refinishers and upholsterers in Dayton, Columbus, and Tipp City, Ohio, keep me busy honing my craft.
Visit my website, where you will find several patterns for the DIY chair seat weaver. The 7-Step Strand Caning pattern is especially detailed with diagrams. All are free to download and use.
(10/25/TC)
Citizen Cane Chair Restoration is a full service furniture restoration shop providing heirloom quality furniture restoration services including chair caning, rushing, wicker/rattan work, furniture refinishing and repair work including upholstery services.
We offer free inspections and quotes at our Westminster shop by appointment. We also operate out of our Kern River shop biweekly.
We are Frwy close to all southern California counties.
We service all areas by receiving shipped items. Removable seats for instance can easily by mailed to us.
Feel free to email us pictures and/or questions about your project to: [email protected]
We look forward to meeting you and your furniture!
Thank you for your opportunity!
(TC-MO-12/19/23)
David W. Dick Chair Caning has performed expert cane seat weaving and restoration, serving Illinois, Indiana, and the greater Midwest, since 1975.
We weave strand cane, sometimes called lace cane, and loom-woven (pressed cane), wide binding cane, and splints.
We gladly stain to match the original material and furniture. And are always more than willing to discuss your seat weaving needs including giving free estimates.
Nothing leaves our shop until it’s perfect — count on it! References available upon request.
Please call for an appointment, leave a message and I’ll get back to you. Drop-off locations in Bloomington, IL, Paris, IL, Seymour, IN.
Proud Charter and Cottage Member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.® (TSWG)
(12/24 GFSUBTC)
Debbie Weckwerth Chair Caning is a home-based shop with over 30 years experience, offering all types of chair seatweaving, hand caning, prewoven cane, splint, porch cane and wicker repair. Sample patterns on display.
Easy one-hour drive from Minneapolis with a south-central location.”Quality work with reasonable prices keeps repairing your antiques affordable.”
(3/1/23)
Den of Antiquity specializes in hand, French and insert cane, all types of antique and modern wicker, natural and fiber rush, splint seats, Danish cord, bamboo, rattan, and outdoor plastic patio furniture restoration.
Owner Sandra Rosar, has been weaving for over 45 years and worked at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, VA and has restored pieces for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. There is not much that she hasn’t seen or done in the world of weaving with her numerous years of experience.
Sandra receives projects from many areas of the country that require imagination, creativity, engineering, and fine, detailed restoration to skillfully bring the piece back to its original condition. She maintains a shop with a master woodworker who assists with projects if needed and has just as many years of experience in refinishing, gluing, repairing, and restoration as Sandra.
Den of Antiquity works on all types of furniture, from antique to modern, in homes, hotels, offices, restaurants, yachts, and will travel to your location when requested to do so. No job is too big or small, simple or complicated!
(TC-4/3/25)
At Doug Werner Seatweaving and Furniture Repair we have been providing seatweaving including Cane, Rush, Splint, Danish Cord and Wicker since 2005.
We serve SE and Central Texas, including the Houston Metro area.
(12/29 TC)