- Cultural heritage portal for Chania - https://www.chania-heritage.gr/en/ -

Chair Maker

Καρεκλάς

Τhe city center of Chania was also a meeting point not only for people who lived there but also for the people who came from the villages. Old times has an other aesthetics that can be recognized in the architecture and in other crafts such as furniture making. The gentility of these times could also be seen on the handmade chairs pieces of art. The process of making a traditional chair goes through several stages. The old chair makers gathered the woods in January, days when the moon was in meltdown.  They chose to cut twigs of the trees that existed in their area. In Apokoronas they made mainly chairs from cypress trees, the woods of which were gathered by the old craftsmen from the White Mountains. In the winter the chair maker went to the forest with his donkey.  With an axe, a saw and a skewer he cut and attempted to clean the twigs, trying to cut identical ones in shape, since there was no mold and each chair was unique. The twigs were cleaned to be lighter when loading the donkey.