Chelsea Witt is a furniture maker and educator based in southern Maine. They graduated with a BA from the University of South Florida and then spent time working for and studying under varying artists and furniture makers such as Alexis Dold, Tyler Hays (BDDW), Christina Boy, Aaron Fedarko, and David Upfill-Brown. 

Chelsea’s teaching practice spans various furniture making programs, universities, and craft schools across the United States.  Chelsea is also the Executive Director of the Chairmaker’s Toolbox and works closely with other non profit organizations doing programming and community organizing.

Han-Ruì is an artist and woodworker who’s found his diction in material rather than language. He primarily works in green wood foraged from his home in Central Vermont where he works as a chairmaker. But he is not limited to working with wood, garments, tea, photography and dinner every night are major parts of his practice. Han-Ruì makes to understand his relationships to the land, his family, and what it means to have a bi racial sensuality. To fuel his practice he often returns to pools of inspiration based in his Taiwanese heritage and his introduction to craft through boatbuilding at a young age. Han-Ruì graduated with a BFA from RISD Furniture in 2023.

Charles Thompson makes chairs and carvings in a humble workshop on a hill in western Massachusetts. His work reflects on vernacular forms, and uses a mixed vocabulary of techniques, patterns, and materials that speak to the efficacy of hand work. He typically works straight from the log, splitting, bending, manipulating, then rejoining wood in a process that leverages personal intention and celebrates common materials. He is the recipient of the 2024 John D Mineck Fellowship.

Photo by Sophia Li.

Rebecca Juliette-Duex was first introduced to the value of craft by her grandparents. As a child, she watched their hands sew, saw, and shape objects out of practical necessity. They inspired her to study fiber art and furniture, and to pursue craft as a personal necessity. Rebecca brings textiles and wood into conversation to tell the story of her own creative heritage and inspire others to do the same. She places equal value on personal practice, community engagement, and education. She is the Tools Coordinator for the Chairmaker’s Toolbox.

Grace Ambrose is a chairmaker and educator based in Kansas City, Missouri. Her work explores the stick chair form, which she learned to build from Christopher Schwarz at Lost Art Press with the support of the Chairmaker’s Toolbox. For her, the feeling of sitting in a new chair after it comes together never gets old — it's like magic every time. When she is not building chairs, she is working in public health, providing opioid overdose prevention services through a non-profit she co-founded with her friends.