The Real Food Store teams up with fine furniture makers

The Real Food Store, on Exeter's Paris Street, has teamed up with Sitting Firm Chairmakers - a family-run furniture makers based in the heart of England specialising in Windsor chairs - to bring its customers a fantastic new range of products. Customers can now view, try out for themselves and purchase a selection of the furniture in the cafe.

Sarah Collier, a founder member of the Real Food Store said “We are really excited about showcasing this furniture in our café sourced from woodlands in Devon & Dorset, it is a practical way of supporting the creation of a strong ‘wood culture’. It’s only a small leap for us to support locally sourced wood products as well as local food!”

From Monday 19 August and throughout September 2013, customers will be able to try out different designs of chair at the Real Food Store café while enjoying your cup of coffee or tasty lunch.

Made from ash sourced from Dorset & Devon, the chairs are made by master craftsmen, to traditional and contemporary designs, in the heart of England by Sitting Firm Chairs Ltd. Customers will also be able to see and handle beautiful and practical cheese boards and chopping boards. Sitting Firm specialise in the uniquely British Windsor chair, classified and distinguished from other styles of chair by one major design feature. The legs of a Windsor chair are jointed into a solid seat, unlike other styles of chair such as frame chairs.

The story of wood & chair making

Customers will be able to find out about how the timber is sourced and be able to enter into a draw to win a beautiful chopping board - all you have to do is complete a short questionnaire.

All of the chairs are handmade to order using sustainable British hardwood, much of which is sourced from FSC certified woodland in Dorset & Devon. The woodlands are managed using ‘continuous cover forestry’ principles. This means that trees are selectively felled, minimising the ecological impact of felling. This approach aims to maintain woodlands that are beautiful and biologically diverse while at the same time producing high quality timber. The aim is to have biologically rich healthy woodlands that can still provide us with a high quality sustainable resource for the future.

All of the chairs displayed are made from ash. The ash Fraxinus excelsior, is one of Europe’s largest native deciduous trees. Ash timber is tough and strong and has an attractive grain. It is used widely in furniture, steam bending, tool handles and carcasses, from kitchens to vintage cars and trucks. Because ash trees grow quite large, chair seats can be made in one piece. This is very traditional in Windsor chair making and it also distinguishes the chairs made by Sitting Firm from modern imports. English ash also has exceptional steam bending qualities that enables chair makers to produce the hoops and arm bends used in many Windsor chair designs.

When buying a Sitting Firm chair, you are not only supporting British design and manufacturing, but also our forestry industry and allied timber trades.

Each of these chairs is a handcrafted heirloom piece with a life-time guarantee, made, designed and grown in Britain.

The Real Food Store is delighted to support local wood culture alongside local food!

Please note café opening times:.
Café opening times:
Monday: Friday 9.30am - 5pm
Saturday: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Sunday: CLOSED