The best-known chair-makers in Estonia came from the island of Muhu; their work was distinctive and evolved into a particular type of chair, which came to be known as muhu tool ('Muhu chair').

Originally a bridal chair - this piece of furniture became known among Estonian peasants, in the 18th century, in the form of a wedding gift to the bride on which she was seated during the ritual tanutamine ('caping of the bride'). The frame-chair provides a significant example of a transfer of motifs from the 'feminine crafts' to the 'masculine ones' - the ornament on the backpiece of a Muhu chair is a copy of the embroidery, but turned upside-down, on bride's wedding apron from the same island.