Living Chair Museum, Furniture museum in High Wycombe, England.
The Living Chair Museum in High Wycombe displays tools, antique chairs, and traditional furniture-making equipment used by local craftsmen across different production stages. The collection documents every step from wood shaping to final assembly.
High Wycombe became a major furniture manufacturing center in the 1800s, building on local timber resources and woodworking traditions. This industry shaped the town and surrounding area for over 150 years.
The museum honors the Bodgers, specialized woodworkers who shaped chair parts in forest workshops before these were assembled in town factories. Their craft defined the region's identity and economy for generations.
The museum sits in the town center and is easily walkable, with parking available nearby for drivers. Exhibits spread across multiple rooms, allowing you to move at your own pace and view objects from different angles.
A working treadle lathe in the museum belonged to Silas Saunders, one of the region's last Bodgers who practiced his trade into the early 1960s. This tool shows how individual craftsmen continued working long after large-scale production declined.
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