Brandy Clements

Brandy & Dave are the owners of Silver River Center for Chair Caning in Asheville, NC, the nation’s only fully dedi­cated chair caning school and museum. As a 4th gener­a­tion Chair Caner, Brandy is a Heritage Member of the South­ern High­land Craft Guild and the school is an offi­cial educa­tion center of the guild. Aside from teach­ing a variety of classes in their River Arts District studio, they also teach at John C Camp­bell Folk School, Penland, The Island Farm & Arrow­mont. Their @SilverRiverChairs YouTube Channel has been popular world­wide and they continue to create videos to help every­one restore their own chair and create a new gener­a­tion of chair weavers. Brandy & Dave are respected educa­tors and ambas­sadors of the craft, demon­strat­ing and lectur­ing at the Folk Art Center, The William King Museum, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, The Furni­ture Society Confer­ence 2019, Let’s Make at the ACC show in Atlanta, and for many other orga­ni­za­tions around the country. They have served on the boards of The SeatWeavers Guild and the River Arts District Artists, and are members of The Furni­ture Society and The Amer­i­can Craft Council. Brandy & Dave have taught over 500 sessions to 250 students in their shop and off site at begin­ner, inter­me­di­ate, and advanced levels. They teach a younger gener­a­tion as much as possi­ble, welcom­ing field trips and clubs, incor­po­rat­ing arts inte­gra­tion at public schools in NC & SC. They have hosted Haywood Commu­nity College’s Profes­sional Wood­work­ing students, Penland students from a chair making class, and indi­vid­ual chair makers who want to incor­po­rate woven elements into their designs. Silver River’s mission is to inspire a rever­ence for a world­wide chair caning legacy and to promote and perpet­u­ate the craft.