About Myself, Nathan and the Business
For over thirty years, I have had an interest in the art of chair caning or seat weaving. It all started when I was a newlywed. How, one might ask, are the two connected? Like most newlyweds, we were long on love, but short on money and therefore, furniture, for our very sparsely furnished apartment. However, I discovered a huge old building in Rockville, Connecticut filled with used furniture and antiques. I found a delicate oak pressed-back chair with holes going around the frame of the seat. I was raised with cane and splint seated furniture, so I knew it was a hole-caned chair. Having just read about a class being offered in hole caning in the area, I bought the chair (for $2.00) and enrolled in the class. After I finished that chair (which I still have with its original seat), I then bought a rocking chair for my sister that required a new back and seat. This pretty maple rocker had rails that had to be woven around. I found a booklet on how to replace seats and wove a binder cane seat and back on the chair. She, too, has the rocker today with its original seat. Don't tell my husband, but that's how a second love affair began.

In 1980, my husband, Mark, and I moved back to Loudoun County where I grew up. With a degree in Social Work/Sociology from Western Maryland College in Westminster, Md., I pursued a job as a paralegal for the elderly with Legal Services of Northern Virginia in Leesburg. Two children came along, various part-time jobs and activities and the years went into fast forward. Over the following years, I would occasionally buy a piece of furniture that required some sort of seat replacement. I would then read books on the subject and practice. I guess you could say that after that first class in hole caning, I taught myself the other types of seat weaving techniques.

Over seven years ago, a desire to re-connect the dots, or holes (so to speak), between my interests, talents, and needs led me to do some self-searching and the result was to re-kindle my interest in caning and the restoration of furniture. The final result was to start my own home-based re-caning business. I now operate the business out of a shop in my home in Lovettsville. However, with any business, one can't operate in a vacuum. There are several antique businesses, restaurants and retail stores in the area who have displayed my work and cards, offered me free access to shows, and encouraged me onward when business was slow at first. I have to thank the Lucketts Store, Wit's End Antiques, The Antique Emporium, Blue Ridge Veterinarians, and Ron-Ann's Beauty Salon and Bonnie's Country Kitchen in Lovettsville, and numerous others for their help in reaching potential clients.

Many people ask me why I do what I do. Chair caning does not fit in with today's attitudes about going forward, making money, doing things fast, etc. If anything, caning is the opposite of most of those ideas. Caning takes one back, it is restoring a piece of history, whether personal, familial or recent. And one doesn't make a high salary doing this; most teenagers working a retail job make more money than I do. And caning certainly is not something that is quickly accomplished. A standard size hole-caned chair can take up to eight hours. I have re-woven a 3-piece set of porch furniture with binder cane that took me fifteen days. So, why do I do it? I receive a sense of satisfaction for re-seating that special piece of furniture. It fulfills the creative side of me, yet produces a useful result. When a person brings me grandma's rocker she was rocked in as a baby and now wants to rock her baby in it, I enjoy playing a small part in carrying on that tradition. Or, when a elderly couple brings me their first set of dining room chairs that they now want to give to a grandchild who is starting out on his/her own, I like being able to help them pass on their belongings and therefore, their memories. And, like myself, all those years ago, I enjoy playing a small part in getting that young couple started out, by restoring a piece of furniture they have purchased at an antique store, auction, flea market. It's the continuation of a pattern, not only on the seat, but also of life.

I have heard it said that the art of caning is becoming a "lost art" and perhaps so, for all those reasons I listed above. Most parents would not encourage their children to take up caning as a profession. However, I find that children enjoy "helping" me when I demonstrate at shows or fairs. I try to interest them, by letting them weave a strand of flat reed or by pulling a piece of cane through, placing a peg in a hole, etc. For me, it keeps the hope alive that they will create a memory of the experience, which may spark an interest later on in their lives. Hopefully, a few of these children will continue on with the art, just for the love of it.

When my son, Nathan, was about 16 years old, I taught him how to hole cane, and to do splint and binder cane weaving. Now, he, at the age of almost 21, does all of the hole cane, splint and binder cane work that comes into the shop. I concentrate on the rush work, pressed cane, Danish cord and Shaker tape weaving. He likes to try out new patterns and intricate designs such as the binder cane diamond shape stool on the home page and the daisy pattern on one of the chairs for sale. It appears I still have more to learn when it comes to the art of chair caning and, at times, find myself the student and my son the teacher. He, too, has discovered the satisfaction one gains from practicing this art. Nathan brings new ideas and hopes for expansion to the business.

At the current time, we offer the replacement of seats with hole cane, pressed cane, natural and fiber rush, splint using reed, hickory or ash, binder cane, Danish cord and Shaker tape weaving. We are available to demonstrate at fairs and shows. If enough interest is shown, classes may be available. We also offer a few chairs for sale. You can contact us at Joy or Nathan Gurevitz, "The Woven Seat" at 41269 Lovettsville Rd., Lovettsville, Va. My phone number is 540-822-5963 or visit my web site at "wovenseat.com."





Pictures of my shop