Craft · 5 min read · 22 September 2026
The nine-hour chair
Inside the Jodhpur workshop where every Arlo is strung by one pair of hands.

Every Arlo Hoop Chair begins as a single length of oak, steamed for an hour until it bends like rope.
## Three hundred metres of cord
Once the hoop has set, one craftsperson strings it from start to finish. It takes nine hours, and no two lattices are identical.
We could make it faster. We have decided not to.
## Why one pair of hands
When one person strings the whole chair, the tension stays even. When two people share the job, you can feel the seam where one stopped and the other began.
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