Columbus rocking chair maker to appear on ‘The Martha Stewart Show’

Charles Brock’s rocking chairs aren’t just for sitting -- they’re art, he says.

Inspired by the style of American furniture designer and woodworker Sam Maloof, the rocking chairs Brock constructs are handmade out of walnut and carved to give each chair a flowing look. Each chair can take between 150 and 200 hours to build and can cost from $5,000 to $12,000.

“These are out of the realm of rocking chairs like those sitting out at Cracker Barrel,” he said. “It’s a real speciality.”

Brock, a former elementary school teacher turned professional chair maker, also teaches classes on building Maloof-inspired furniture at his north Columbus studio. But on Tuesday, Brock will fly to New York City to take on a more famous pupil.

Brock and his rocking chairs will be featured on a segment of the “Martha Stewart Show” on Friday at 10 a.m. on the Hallmark Channel. He will tape the show Wednesday morning at Stewart’s studio.

“I’m going to be showing her how to carve a back spindle for the chair,” Brock said.

He said Stewart’s brother, Eric, took a class from him on making sculptured rockers about a year ago in Atlanta and told him if Stewart ever did a woodworking show, Brock might come on as a guest.

In addition to offering classes, Brock also sells DVDs and chair building kits on his website. His business has gone worldwide, he said, with clients from South Africa and Russia buying the kits.

Brock has been building furniture for 30 years, completing projects in his garage after school and during vacations. He became a full-time furniture maker after he retired from Reese Road Elementary School a year and a half ago.

“I walked out of teaching school right into a retirement profession,” he said. “It’s more than I’d ever dreamed would come true.”

Students pay as much as $2,500 to attend Brock’s classes, where they spend seven days, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., working on their chairs. Most of the students are not from Columbus, so Brock also makes sure they get to sample local cuisine by taking them on a “taste of Columbus lunch tour” -- scrambled dogs at Dinglewood Pharmacy, Chinese at Chef Lee’s and fried chicken at Minnie’s Uptown.

“My students enjoy seeing Columbus,” he said. At the end of the classes, the students pack up their chairs to sand and finish at home. Many send Brock pictures of their finished products.

“I get to be the grandfather of lots of rocking chairs,” he said.

Sara Pauff, 706-320-4469