Period furniture makers often find inspiration for their work in a museum. Now a group of SAPFM members is giving some of that inspiration back.

Six members of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers recently teamed up and volunteered their skills – and materials – to create three historically accurate pieces for an exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The makers delivered the pieces – a side table, a Windsor chair and a child’s bed – to the museum last month. All three will be on display inside a 270-year-old farmhouse that is among the centerpieces of a permanent exhibit highlighting the state’s history. The chair and table are both based on original pieces in the museum’s collection.

Museum curator RoAnn Bishop said the reproduction pieces will help museum docents explain to visitors the realities of everyday farm life in the 18th and 19th centuries. She also marveled at the accuracy of hte SAPFM members’ work. “Their meticulous attention to details is amazing,” she said.

Raleigh woodworker Ed Willer worked to organize the project and helped build the side table.

“It isn’t every day that a woodworker has his reproduction furniture on exhibit at a major museum,” he said. “We are honored to be a part of this project.”

 

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