History of Silla del Rey
In the 1960s, one of my grandfather’s close friends traveled to Spain to hunt red legged partridges. He was guided by Basque hunters who lived in the Pyrenees mountains. The Basque men carried a collapsible hunting stool slung over their shoulder that they called “Silla del Rey.” Translated, it means “Seat of the King.”
His friend was so impressed with the Basque stool that he arranged to purchase four of them. Upon his return to the U.S., he gave one of them to my grandfather, Ken Williford, who was an avid wingshooter for all of his years.
Ken enjoyed his Silla del Rey for over three decades before passing away in 2006. Luckily for me, he made me one. Over the last 20 years, I have taken my collapsable hunting stool on excursions all throughout the southwest United States. It has been through rain, bitter cold and the blistering sun, and not once has it failed me. No part has broken or needed repair. In fact, it is more comfortable today then it was the day I received it.
Where It All Started
15 years after my grandfather passed away, in 2021, I found myself playing baseball at Weatherford College. I was looking for a way to make a little bit of cash that worked around the intense schedule of junior college baseball. I saw an opportunity in making customizable leather wallets. A handful of my teammates supported the idea and agreed to buy a simple bi fold wallet with their initials stamped in. Those wallets were my introduction to the art of leatherwork. The quality of my work improved over my time at Weatherford College and I sharpened my skills by learning the craft one wallet at a time. Every cut, stitch, and imperfection taught me something new, I didn't know it at the time but these mistakes were teaching me lessons that would later carve the foundation of The Return of The King's Chair.
The Rebrand
After my time at Weatherford College was up in 2023, I was still going under the name Tadpole Leatherwork. My teammates used to call me Tadpole, so it just made sense at the time. One summer day in Hico, Texas, I was visiting my grandmothers house when I noticed a hat hanging on the wall with "Silla del Rey" stitched across the front. She reminded me that my grandfather used to make leather hunting stools under that name a couple decades ago to keep him busy in retirement. That moment lit something in me. I realized the last two years learning the art of leatherwork wasn't just to fund my nights out with my teammates, they were giving me the skills necessary to bring my grandfathers vision back to life. From that moment on, I knew I had to rebrand to "Silla del Rey", and make it my mission to bring back the King's Chair.
The Return of The King's Chair
The next two years were a blur. I was finishing up my undergrad at Texas Tech while learning how complex the design of the stools really was.
In 2023, I introduced the custom Del Rey gun slings. I did it knowing that my ultimate goal was to bring back the King's Chair, and that building an audience of people who valued handmade leather gear would give me a head start. The success of those gun slings proved to me that there was still a market for this sort of thing. I saved up nearly every penny from those sales to invest the equipment needed to revive The King's Chair.
A Cobra Class 4 leather sewing machine. An 8 ton clicker press. Custom clicker dies. Casting tool for the aluminum feet. One feature of the stool at a time, I was gathering what was needed to bring back the King's Chair.
Luckily, I still had the stool my grandfather gave me. I took that stool apart and reassembled it more times than I can count, I studied every detail of that stool and I was learning not just how he built it, but why he built it the way he did. My Grandfather was teaching me things 17 years after he had passed away.
After countless prototypes, 4 years of learning the art of leatherwork, and my entire life savings, I was finally ready. On June 1st, 2025, I released the first fifteen stools, I wasn't concerned with how many I sold, I was just fulfilled by the fact that they were back.
June 1st, 2025 marked The Return of The King's Chair.
