Oak Art of KentuckyBarnes Mountain

Barnes Mountain, Kentucky

Oak Art of Kentucky is returning.

Handmade oak chairs. Same family. Same mountain. Beginning again.

Join the Waitlist

Be the first to know when the chairs are ready.

Two original Oak Art of Kentucky chairs, a chaise and a folding chair, photographed in the 1980s.
Original chairs, circa 1985

A family beginning

A workshop on the mountain, then and now.

In the early 1980s, Zach’s parents began a small woodworking business on Barnes Mountain in Irvine, Kentucky. They made oak chairs. Slat by slat, chair by chair.

The shop went quiet for many years. Zach is bringing it back, rebuilding the process by hand, and making the chairs again with oak harvested near home.

Some of the original chairs are still in daily use more than forty years later.

A young Zach as a toddler, sitting in one of the original chairs and holding a small hammer.
Zach, in one of his father’s chairs.
Zach's parents as a young couple in the 1970s, seated together and smiling.
Zach’s parents. The beginning of the shop.

Longevity

Built to last.

A chair should outlive the room it was made for. These have.

An original slatted high-back oak folding chair, photographed in black and white.
Original high-back chair, still in use.
Two original oak chairs, a chaise and a folding chair, still standing after decades of use.
Chaise and folding chair, circa 1985.
Zach's father outdoors, holding one of the original slatted oak chairs.
A chair leaving the shop. Kentucky, 1980s.

The line

The designs we are bringing back.

The same designs. Made again with locally harvested Kentucky oak.

The high-back oak folding chair.
High-Back ChairEst. 1983
The double chaise beside its matching chair.
Double ChaiseEst. 1983
The folding lounge and companion pieces from the 1990 brochure.
Folding LoungeEst. 1983
A slatted companion chair being carried out of the shop.
Companion ChairEst. 1983
A trade show display featuring side tables and lounge chairs.
Side TableEst. 1983
A slat bench under construction on the workshop bench.
Slat BenchEst. 1983

Then and now

The same hands, the same shop.

Two woodworkers in the original 1980s shop, one stapling slats onto a chair frame.
The original shop. Fastening slats.
Two men in the original workshop, drilling and assembling a chair frame.
Working a joint. Ravenna, Kentucky.
A 1980s Kentucky trade show booth showing a full room of Oak Art chairs, chaises, and side tables.
Oak Art of Kentucky trade show booth, Ravenna, Kentucky.

Waitlist

The first chairs are almost ready.

Join the list and you will be the first to hear when they are available.