About

Mike Dunbar became fascinated with Windsor chairs in 1971. With all the old chair makers long-gone, he had to figure out on his own how they had worked. It took a long while, with lots of trial and error, but Mike revived the craft and became the first working American Windsor chair maker in over a century.

In 1980 Mike taught his first class in Provo, Utah. Over the next decade he refined and perfected his instruction by teaching this class over and over, traveling from state to state. Mike’s Windsor chair class and his easy to follow, step-by-step process became famous. In 1994 Mike and his wife Susanna founded The Windsor Institute in Hampton, New Hampshire. At last, American Windsor chair making had a home. Woodworkers from five continents flocked to Hampton to study with Mike.