**Sorry, this workshop has been cancelled.**

Adult community education | Craft | rustic furniture making | full day workshop

Join artisan Andrew Kent from The Willow Way for this full day workshop. In one day, with Andrew's expert instruction, you can make and take home your own classic Willow Loveseat or Club chair. Using Alder for the frame and Willow for the bent shoots, this is a great introduction to rustic building techniques.

While these chairs can be made alone, bringing a helper is recommended. The registration fee is for up to 2 participants making one chair together.

Please note that you will need to bring your own lunch and snacks to this full day workshop. Admission to the Gardens at HCP is included in your registration.

Location & Date

Saturday November 8, 2025, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

The Classroom at the Gardens at HCP, 505 Quayle Road, Saanich

Fees & Registration

REGISTER ONLINEor phone 250-479-6162 register.

Fees include materials.

HCP Members | Club Chair: $285 or Loveseat: $500

Non-Members | Club Chair: $305 or Loveseat: $520            Interested in becoming an HCP Member?

Cancellation & Refunds

Note that this class requires a minimum of 2 registrants/chair builds (not including helpers) in order to run. If the minimum is not met, the class will be canceled or postponed. Please contact [email protected] if you need to cancel your registration. Note that registrations less than one week prior to the class date may not be eligible for a refund if registration minimums are not met.

Instructor Bio: Andrew Kent

The Willow Way's roots go back all the way to 1993 when I made my first willow chair in a workshop with Kate Lawes. Over the next five years, Kate and I opened and ran a store in downtown Nanaimo, attended many large and small shows, and hosted numerous willow furniture workshops. Many of the designs I use are traditional, coming from Kentucky by way of Pemberton, BC. Some are then updated with design ideas suggested by the materials themselves.

I grew up on a rural island and have always felt at home in the woods. A keen mountain biker, I am passionate about the outdoors and Vancouver Island. Many of my days are spent hunting for materials, foraging local species of willow and alder, and finding the best shoots and whips for each piece, which directs the creative construction.

From forest to finished product, the entire willow furniture process is an adventure and ever-evolving, which to me is the real beauty of this work. Most of the materials are natural and not milled, which means not one project is the same and it's always a new experience.

I think people respond to my work because it is more than just your average rustic furniture – it is handmade with materials that are otherwise not utilized. My passion for nature and for the creative process comes through in each piece.

Andrew Kent