Why choose a rush seat?
The rush seat has been around for thousands of years, with examples of woven rushes and reeds used for seating being found in ancient Egyptian excavations! But what is it, and why is it such a popular material to use for seating?
Freshly cut rushes with the rush cutting “slashing hook” resting on top.
What is a “rush seat”?
The first thing to know is that these seats are all natural! Yes, they’re made of plants. Rushes are a water plant, growing in fresh water and found all over the world. We get them from the Midlands, in the UK but they grow prolifically throughout England and Wales, with fewer examples in Scotland (they don’t like the cold quite as much).
Their single, long, dark green stems grow up to 3m tall, and can be as thick as 25-30mm at the base with a small cluster of brown flowers at the top. They’re a perennial plant and start growing in April, and are ready to harvest in late June to early August.
Ben carries a bundle of rushes out of the River.
How are they used?
During the late summer, we don our finest waders and pick up our slashing hooks - a 3 foot long, scythe-like blade which is used to slice through handfuls of rushes as low down in the water as possible. They’re then taken back to our workshop where we tie some 1000 bundles up to hang in the summer sun to dry out.
As soon as they’re dry they’ll store forever, but when we want to use them, we’ll wet them down with a hose and by morning they’ll be supple and ready for weaving.
Rushing weaving is a fairly simple thing in theory, but to get a really top-notch seat takes… wait for it…
Practice.
It’s accomplished by taking 2 or 3 individual rushes and twisting them together to form a sort of rope. Then it’s wound over the seat rail, up through the chair and over itself again to secure the strand in place. This is repeated another couple of hundred times and voila! one rush seat.
Sam Cooper weaving a Bedales Side Chair
Okay, I know that’s simplifying it a little but if you want to learn how to actually make a rush seat, you can on one of our courses. We put on 5-6 of these a year and they’re for beginners right through to advanced seaters.
A seat in progress
alright, so I know what it is and how it’s made… but why?
Good question. The short answer is because some people just like them, that’s why. The long answer is much more complex and I’ll list a couple of reasons below, though it’s by no means exhaustive!
They’re durable. With daily use you’ll get a good few decades of use out of one before it’s done. and bonus point number 2 here is:
You can repair them! If you’ve got an old chair with a seat that’s seen better days, you can easily replace it with a whole new seat and get another few decades of use from it. If you need one fixing - get in touch with us, we can help.
They’re comfortable. Everyone is always so surprised when they sit on our chairs to find they don’t need a cushion, and many say they could sit on them all night at a dinner party quite easily.
They’re natural. These plants grow wild in rivers and lakes. In their regular life cycle they would die off and start again anyway, so it’s much better for the environment than fabric.
And with that in mind, it’s local. Everyone wants to lower their carbon footprint these days, and one of the simplest methods is to just not go as far for your things. Silk shipped from China and Cotton from the US for upholstering has a massive impact by just getting here!
Honestly, I could talk your ears off about rushes all day, but I’ll stop here and leave you with a small summary.
The rush seat has come and gone in popularity over the centuries, but if you’re questioning whether to buy one of not remember that they’re still here. And there’s all these very good reasons, from its small environmental impact to its striking appearance and comfort to back that up. Or maybe you just like knowing that a human has put time and a great deal of skill into making something specifically for you. Who knows.
If you’ve got any questions about rush seating or something else you’d like to learn more about let me know in the comments!
Until next time.
You can even get super long rush seats!