Chigiri Plate Making - KOITOYA Woodworking Class 2026

Chigiri Plate Making  - Woodwork for Fun

This is a 2 day course, 

$510

1. 21-22 Feburary, Sat - Sun, 2026

2. 17-18 October, Sat - Sun, 2026

For anyone who wants to have fun and take beautiful piece home!

Technical aspects - curved joints, butterfly joint, router works, Japanese curve plane

Content

Making KOITOYA original and very popular design, Chigiri plate.

This program includes lots of technical aspects of joinery and router jig work. Well supported even for beginners.

This program also requires physical skills for hand curving.

Well suited for beginners.

Well suited for intermediate level to learn about Butterfly Joint, Router jig works.

What is Chigiri?

The Chigiri plate is a KOITOYA original design - a wooden plate made from contrasting timber joined by butterfly joints.

The Japanese word "Chigiri" means butterfly joint but also refers to a strong connection.

When given as a gift, these Chigiri plates demonstrate the giver’s personal ties to the receiver. Well received by both sender and receiver.

By bonding two different timbers together, these plates were designed to make good use of unused narrow timbers obtained from sustainable forestry activities.

What you can gain

1. Make KOITOYA original designed plate to take home

2. Hands down knowledge about jointing curved joint, using router.

3. Your choice of timber from 4~7 species.

4. The essence of the Butterfly joint.

5. Hand carving with round chisels for decoration.

Dates (2 occasions)

1. 21-22 Feburary 2026 (Sat~Sun), Tutor: Clare & John

2. 17-18 October 2026 (Sat~Sun), Tutor: Clare & John

Time

2 days, 12 hours in total

Day 1: 9:00-12:00 | 13:00-16:00

Day 2: 9:00-12:00 | 13:00-16:00

* Please allow some flexibility with the scheduled end to each day. Sometimes your project requires extra time to finish.

Proposed schedule

Day 1 

AM: Lecture. Prepare the timber to glue up.

PM: Shaping and roughing out with router

Day 2

AM: Hand shaping with planes and chisels

PM: Hand shaping. Butterfly joint.

Lecturer

Clare Solomon (KOITOYA Design/Make/Teach)

Koitoya full time furniture maker. 

Graduated from ANU School of Art, Furniture. Clare has been active artist exhibiting their own work.

Clare has been working fulltime with Hiroshi since 2016.

Clare has returned from Japan trip in 2023, where they stayed at Japanese woodworkers for further training.

Assisting Staff

John Lane (KOITOYA Design/Make/Teach)

After living in Japan for 4 years John returned to Australia in 2002 and began studying woodwork at the Canberra School of Art. After working for a couple of local Businesses he joined Koitoya in 2023.

Fee

$510

Class size

Maximum 12

Location

Koitoya Design/Make/Teach (Fyshwick, ACT)

Address

4/18 Maryborough Street, Fyshwick ACT 2609

Parking

Please park your car in the public parking area along Maryborough Street (Free), opposite from J Racing.

We have two parking spots officially. Please contact me for the spot if you need to walk less for a health condition.

Way to the workshop

18 Maryborough Street is a battle axe block, located inside of the block, so you will be walking through the driveway that leads to the block from Maryborough Street.

The driveway has 2 access points, one next to Aqua Safe Water Filters, and one next to J Racing.

Unit 4 is a blue painted building on the right-hand side of the block.

Album from past workshop

Past Chigiri Workshop Album

Things to bring

Please wear working shoes.

Bring your own water bottle and lunch.

Things to be supplied

Tea and coffee, snacks, filtered water

Refund Policy

Personal cancelation

Refunds up to 14 days before the event

Humanitix fee is nonrefundable.

for more information, please contact Hiroshi

koitoya@gmail.com / 0412340619