How Lluis and Pit Built a Gorgeous Workbench During Lockdown
The recent restrictions due to COVID-19 have had a significant effect on the places where people can physically gather to think and create together. Woodwork Academy is no exception. However the workshops of all levels are truly missing their ambitious participants; the workspace under Paul-Lincke-Ufer 41 did not remain empty. Former Woodwork Academy student, Pit, with the assistance of WWA founder, Lluis Mateu, decided to build a practical and steady workbench during the gloomy days of February. Using Padlet’s Furniture Making with Handtools as a guide, they worked hard every afternoon until this fascinating outcome came to life.
For this interview, we asked Pit about the core idea behind his project, his experiences of working with Lluis and all the valuable lessons he took away from the learning process.
How did you meet Lluis and what have you done with Woodwork Academy before?
I met Luis at the Beginners’ Workshop at Woodworking Academy. At that time, I liked the idea of being able to use the workspace after the course. Being in the workshop opened up a new perspective of what would be possible to build in that place.
Tell us a little bit about this recent project that you have been building one-on-one with Lluis and why you decided to do it.
I was always interested in furniture building. In contrast to my job, where I juggle political processes and social interactions, I liked the thought of building something that is actually tangible and finished at some point. So I made my first small building attempts at home, then I took the Beginners’ Workshop at the academy and really fell in love with wood as a building material.
My window sill at home just wasn’t a decent place to really work on developing my skills further. So I started researching on workbenches and came up with the design – a hybrid – between a moravian and a roubo style workbench. I also wanted a more furniture-like appeal of the piece because it will be sitting in my living room. This is the reason why we chose the nice and also sturdy materials of maple and walnut.
Then I was able to take a few days off from work. Lluis was ready to go, so we started building.
How was your experience? What did you learn/enjoy/ accomplish in the days of building the project?
To sum it up, it was a really great experience! Lluis invited me to do the whole process together starting from collecting the wood at Holz Lehmann to finishing the bench. Right from the beginning, I felt warmly welcomed by the people in the workshop and a strong connection to Lluis as a teacher and as a co-conspirator. He included me in every part of the process and always had a task for me at hand that I could do by myself. Since I wanted to work with hand tools, he focused on hand tool tasks for me. Every time, while Lluis was watching and teaching me, he was also focusing on taking the project further, one step at a time, until it was finished.
My basic take-aways are definitely that wood is such a beautiful and very formable material, but it also takes a lot of time and effort, patience and precision (and sharp tools) in order to make it look beautiful and work construction wise.
By the aspect of beauty, I also mean the process of working on the bench, not just the finished piece. There were moments in the workshop when I totally lost track of time because I was so immersed in the project which in the end was the main incentive behind the whole idea of the build in the first place. Seeing the finished bench at the end felt like a big win.
Any words of advise for other people interested in woodwork and the Woodwork Academy?
There is a lot of knowledge about woodworking out there that is easy and accessible for free. First step would be to look around, do your research, and find out what you are interested in building. But then, there is this huge difference between theoretically knowing how – or what to build – and actually being able to do it and have all the tools for that. This is where the Woodwork Academy comes in as a great place to have a good, guided start to get in touch with wood and the tools.
