Craftsmanship on Display

Our dream of making a video to showcase the craftsmanship behind Chicken Footstools has finally come true! We are so excited to share it with you all soon. Until then, here is a story of our field trip to film the artisans at work on a cold day last December...

The first destination was Ad Astra Art Bronze outside of Lawrence, Kansas, where Chicken Footstool feet and beaks are created. The tour of their fascinating facility demonstrated each step in the lost-wax casting process. Witnessing 2,000 degree molten bronze pours is truly an amazing sight! With care and expertise, this talented crew continues to capture the intricate details of our sculptures in solid bronze, forever.

The wooden egg cores of our Chicken Footstools are unseen treasures, hidden beneath their natural fiber upholstery. We visited Roy, self-proclaimed 'Egg-man,' in Hesston, Kansas. Roy finds fallen trees, saws their trunks and sculpts them into eggs on a lathe. In the design process of our original Chicken Footstools, Henny and Penny, many shapes and materials were considered to function as the core of the structure. A wooden egg won the honor for many reasons: the weight helps with stability, fallen trees are abundant around the farm, turning on the lathe is fun, and eggs remind us to be mindful of the cycle of life. Additionally, we answered the age-old question: Which comes first? The egg. :)

Our final stop along the journey was a return to the family farm in Lyons, Kansas. Here my dad, Harlan, composes the wood and bronze elements- bending, screwing, drilling, welding, and pounding- until each Chicken Footstool stands proudly on flat feet. We lovingly refer to these as 'naked chickens.'

(The next day was spent filming the upholstery and fiber magic that happens at our studio in Kansas City, Missouri. We will share more on that another day!)

As I watched our artisans work and saw the light in their eyes as they explained their process, I fell in love with Chicken Footstools all over again.

To all of our makers: Like a Chicken Footstool, each of you is one-of-a-kind, but better. Thank you.

Also, thank you Worth It Films!