Comments on: Rachael South, Chair Caner & Upholsterer

By: June Bridges

June Bridges — Tue, 05 May 2020 13:25:24 +0000

Loved reading about the chair caner,going through my ancestry I discovered that my grt,grandmother was a chair caner from Spitalfields,and her husband my Grt.Grandfather was a basket maker all very interesting.
June Bridges

By: Bond Cobby

Bond Cobby — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 17:01:12 +0000

Really nice to read the piece and see the associated images ,and well done to Rachel for carrying on a wonderful tradition. Like Rachel my father was a “caner” and he taught me. In the late 80s we both would sit out in Chelsea near the Chelsea Dome as it was known at the time.
We were street caners and I remember such good times , people watching ,the characters we met Dave Allen, Sir Richard Rogers Bill Wyman to name a few, we even got invited to a few parties.
People would drop off their chairs with us and we would keep them in “storage”behind the back of Barclays bank,with a plastic sheet thrown over them. Return in the morning and carry on, we did get some attention from the local police but my father had a peddlers license. The young policemen didn’t even know what it was so they left us alone .
I still do the odd chair now and again but I am based in Brighton now still if you want one done I could get my arm twisted. haha.

By: Christine Prowse

Christine Prowse — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 10:10:26 +0000

Hello. Could you tell me cost of caning repairs to the back of a chair. The area is 35 X 40 cm.
Many thanks
Christine Prowse

By: Winona Stewart

Winona Stewart — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:52:47 +0000

Love this post! I’ve done caning myself and know it is tedious work and requires
a lot of patience. Best wishes to Rachel for continuing the family business.

By: Bunty Ball

Bunty Ball — Mon, 05 May 2014 12:45:19 +0000

A super article on Chair caning with some very interesting old pictures. Good to see Rachel is doing well. I also cane chairs and am a member of the Basketmakers’ Association, Rachel might be interested in joining some like minded people. http://www.basketassoc.org

By: virginia wright

virginia wright — Sun, 04 May 2014 23:39:48 +0000

Thanks for your terrific website. About 40 years ago, I was taught to weave cane by a blind man who was so good he could do a regular dining chair seat during a night of television listening. I was ill at the time and the work was helpfully therapeutic and – as the quality improved – incredibly enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone – although not professionally in your area of course. Your Montreal reader will be happy to hear that cane-seat chairs were manufactured in Canada, in distinctive models as well as Austrian and American designs. The Canadian chairs were used throughout the country in homes, schools, hospitals, cafes, hotels, town halls, etc., from the most modest to the most luxurious. They are usually misidentified in museums and shops as ‘American’ or ‘Austrian’, and can be found in English antiques auction sales, as they were exported to Britain from the 1880s to the 1930s. Book out soon (I hope).

By: Judith Haxton

Judith Haxton — Sun, 04 May 2014 21:23:48 +0000

What a wonderful article to wake up to in my inbox! I recently found a pair of old bistro style chairs with badly damaged cane seats in the GARBAGE. I would love for Rachael to fix them. Too bad I’m an ocean away in Montreal. I was of course thrilled by the Montreal Quebec reference in the Types of London.

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Sun, 04 May 2014 17:03:24 +0000

Fascinating, and well done Rachael, it must be wonderful to still be able to earn a living from an age old craft like that!

By: Vivienne

Vivienne — Sun, 04 May 2014 12:47:31 +0000

What a wonderful story this is! I love the way that the internet brings people together in a way that would not have been possible even twenty years ago.

By: Chris McGrath

Chris McGrath — Sun, 04 May 2014 07:50:00 +0000

Lovely post. Thank you.