A retired civil engineer from Brechin has created a broom wood chair for Blair Castle in Scotland, after discovering that his great-great-great grandfather had produced similar furniture for the castle in the late 18th century.
In 1758, John Murray, third Duke of Atholl, commissioned Perth-based furniture maker George Sandeman to make the Derby Dressing Room’s furniture. George crafted the room’s broom wood bureau and tables. Hundreds of years on, Colin Stewart Sandeman, also a talented furniture maker, has created a broom wood chair following the same methods used by George over 250 years ago.
Colin developed an interest in broom wood before he knew that his ancestor had made furniture from the same plant centuries before.
Colin explains: “I’ve been making furniture from broom wood since the mid-80s, when a friend suggested I see furniture made of broom at Blair Castle. At that stage, I had no idea that my great-great-great grandfather had created the broom furniture there, but I was inspired to collect some broom and I made my first piece, a desk, in the summer of 1985.”
Colin spent 243 hours working on the chair for Blair Castle. The front legs and dowels between the legs are made of solid broom. The veneer on the front and back of the seat and the back are made from hundreds of smaller broom pieces.
Sarah Troughton, head trustee at Atholl Estates, says: “It has been lovely to welcome Colin to Blair Castle and learn more about the making of broom wood furniture. It is a very unusual wood to work with. Colin’s family connection, knowledge and passion for this unique furniture is wonderful and we are delighted with the chair, which will complete the suite of furniture in the Derby Dressing Room.”
