Modern Apprenticeships

Well that is a very well done video. As a craftsman in finishing, and business, it leaves me with too many unanswered questions. Here are a few: Who is subsidizing this business. Nice weather, ride your bike to work, everything appears Utopian, but how many chairs would you need to make to heat that behemoth of a building in the winter, and pay for all that machinery. Where are all the other joiners? How could that be a sustainable business? And of course, how is it finished?
Thanks for posting Joel

In one specific area of woodworking, Lutherie, there are still Guilds, apprenticeships, and a wide array of educational programs, from private schools, to public schools, of the vocational type and the university type, as well as many intensive and special "classes" which are basically like a short-term, intense and intensive apprenticeship. There are now factories and big brand names, but far and away, head and shoulders above the factory made musical instruments of wood and string, are those made by hand, often solely with traditional hand tools though these days, even in a small one man shop making acoustic and or classic and flamenco guitars for example, there is probably a drill press and a bandsaw and often a few more machines, though often built by the luthier himself. The old arts and craft of handmade musical instruments of wood and strings is still alive and well, and thriving.

Don't be fooled by brand name factories which have an "handmade or custom made shop" department for special orders. They are hybrid handmade/factory made and are still products far below what a truly handmade guitar will yield. To find a great guitar, find a great luthier, the smaller the shop, generally the better.

It would be wonderful to see woodworking and woodworkers in general return to those roots, everywhere. You don't have to do it for living to keep the art alive. You just have to love it and be willing to research and work to recover the lost arts, which in fact can usually be found somewhere alive and well in the world or even on your home continent, maybe closer than you imagine.

Steven

Very interesting. It's a shame shop programs have largely been eliminated in the USA. I had to pay a good amount of money to go to Phil Lowe's school full time to gain knowledge in what could have been taught over several years in a traditional apprenticeship. But that's just not how we work it here for the most part so hacking it out by yourself or in a co op group seems to be the few ways for furniture makers to get by.

David - Laura wrote me to respond to your observations:

To answer the questions of Davids comment:

Rud. Rasmussen was bought by a company called Carl Hansen in 2011.
Carl Hansen has several factories, all producing high quality Danish
design furnitures (but not all as old school as Rud. Rasmussen).

Rud. Rasmussen is not a very profitable business, because the amount
of hours put into one piece of furniture is so high, that the
furniture becomes very expensive and therefore hard to sell in large
numbers.

But Rud. Rasmussen is so well known in both Denmark and around the
world, that there is a demand for the furnitures. And almost every
home of Danes above 60 years has at least one piece of furniture from
Rud. Rasmussen.

But that said Rud. Rasmussen is now owned by Carl Hansen because it
was too hard to run after the financial crisis. Carl Hansen has an
interest in preserving the Rud. Rasmussen workshop. Both because they
need the traditions and carftsmen to make some of the specific
furnitures, but also because they want to show costumers and business
relations how traditional Danish craftmanship is done. It is sort of
their crowning glory.

And for the other questions he asked:
In Denmark everybody rides their bikes everywhere, no matter how the
weather is - that is just how Danes gets around :)
We are around 20 joiners hired in the workshop. The others had work to
do the day the filmcrew came around.

Cheers,
Laura