A COMMON THEME at the Krenov School of Fine Woodworking is the love for creation – a love for creating with wood.
Students and professors agree that being part of this school comes with an expectation of excellence, and love is a necessary component for such rigorous and meticulous work, as is patience.
There’s an understanding that perfection is unattainable, but one can come close and can appreciate the beauty within the imperfect.
“If you’ve done everything that you can in your power to make it as good as you want it to be and as good as you can make it to be, then it’s great,” said Jayme Schlimper, who moved across the country to join the program in Fort Bragg. “Perfect doesn’t exist. Seeing imperfections in something that is handmade is part of it. It’s beautiful that way.”
The Krenov School was founded in 1981 by a Siberian-born cabinetmaker, James Krenov, as the College of the Redwoods Fine Furniture Program. Krenov died in 2009, and the school acquired a new administration as well as its current name when it became part of Mendocino College in 2016. Today, Krenov’s legacy remains very much alive; the school has kept its high standards and has acquired a national reputation for quality.
Students can apply for a nine-month program, which has a requirement of 48 hours per week, with a spring show finale each May where students showcase their work. The program has taken on as many as 19 first-year students, and each year six students are accepted for a second term.
A long way from home
Schlimper, 30, is one of many students who upended their lives elsewhere to study at the school. She was working at the Natural Science Museum in Houston, having always been interested in working with her hands — though not in wood — when a mentor said, “It seems you are into making things” and mentioned the Krenov program.
Intrigued by the program, Schlimper started working in wood, then applied to the Krenov School and was accepted. The program was, she said, “an investment in myself.”
The transition wasn’t entirely smooth. Schlimper had to adjust to being in a new state, one very different from Texas. And upon arriving in Fort Bragg with a very limited background in woodworking, she initially felt intimidated by the school.
“They focus a lot on hand work rather than machine use, and there’s heavy hand tool skills that you gain, which I think you can use anywhere.” Jayme Schlimper, Krenov School woodworking student
“There’s a lot of really cool, really refined work that comes out of here. And I did not feel like I had those skills,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I was on the same level as a lot of the work.”
She soon realized, however, that most people starting the program felt the same way. Everyone was experiencing the same thoughts and feelings. She started spending time with like-minded people, and the school quickly became “a really, warm and pleasant place to be all day,” she said.
And she got a boost from finishing her first project, a small table for eating while seated on the floor.
“This is a program where I think the skills you get out of it are really up there,” Schlimper said. “They focus a lot on hand work rather than machine use, and there’s heavy hand tool skills that you gain, which I think you can use anywhere.”
Greg Finn, 22, is the second youngest in the current class. Originally from Fairfax in Marin County, Finn is also a lover of creating. After graduating from high school, he entered a program for building tiny houses. In his spare time, he began visiting the shop to make furniture. He knew then that furniture making was a passion for him.
“If I can spend 16 to 18 hours in a place and enjoy it, then that’s probably the kinda thing I should be doing,” Finn said.
Still, Finn applied to the architecture programs at UC Berkeley and UCLA, and he was accepted. But it was around that time that the Gen Z student found out about Krenov through Instagram.
“I was just kinda scrolling through, and I saw an ad for this cabinet that was made last year by this student, Tess Petrich,” Finn said. “And I was very taken by it. It was really beautiful … a cabinet on a stand in madrone and walnut.”
Finn looked into the school, liked what he saw and decided to apply. His expectations were low — he doubted he had what it took to get accepted. But, soon enough, he did get accepted into the program, and it was an easy choice.
“I have not thought about any other school or any other decisions since I’ve been here. I don’t regret it at all,” said Finn, who plans to apply for a second year at the school. “This doesn’t feel like work. It feels like home. I’m having fun every day. I would love to stick with it. I’d love to make it my career.”
The language of fine craftsmanship
Currently Finn is working on a cabinet with doors made of madrone and a base made with walnut. All of the wood is from Northern California, and the madrone was cut in Fort Bragg. As someone who grew up in Northern California, Finn said it was nice to build a cabinet he “identifies with.”
Last semester he made a nightstand he gifted his girlfriend. Finn said a project like the nightstand can take up to 500 to 600 hours of work, but said he knows why such a project takes so much time and effort. It is quality work with a level of detail that only someone who has experienced creating something similar can understand.
Finn talked about his professor of the day, Ejler Hjorth-Westh and how he brought in one of his chairs to class. Hjorth-Westh is known for his chairs and Finn said listening to him describe the angles in the chairs made him realize that every detail matters.
Like Finn, Hjorth-Westh knows what it’s like to love the program. Before he was a professor, he was also a student. The Denmark native used to be a biology teacher but serendipity brought him to Mendocino County, he says. Through a hitchhiking journey which began upon arriving in Houston in 1979, he eventually landed in Mendocino in 1982. Hjorth-Westh was then taken on by a boat builder who would become his mentor.
Under this mentor, he built two boats. He was familiar with handiwork but nothing to this extent. Hjorth-Westh said his mentor was a great teacher who guided him but let him build on his own. Through the mentor, Hjorth-Westh learned about the Krenov School.
“And I see these intelligent, talented people walking in and out of that door. It was like ah, I don’t know, like a holy place. Unachievable,” he said.
It appeared out of his league, but in 1989 he applied successfully to become a student. And today he is a teacher at this out-of-reach place.
“Everybody who comes through this school, especially the two-year students, they dream of a third year, a fourth year, whatever. Or of never leaving. So when I got the opportunity to come back here as an instructor, I jumped on it because that’s what I wanted. I wanted to be back in this place. This is a fantastic place,” he said.
“I’m really, really happy when people succeed. … There’s a lot of angst when you get to woodworking at this level of perfection. Perfection is an angstful place to be, ’cause it doesn’t really exist.” Ejler Hjorth-Westh, Krenov School instructor
When Hjorth-Westh is not teaching, he is also creating his custom-made furniture. This keeps him busy and also relatable to the students. He knows what they are going through.
“Everything that I try to deliver to these students goes through the filter of having been a student here. I have been in their shoes,” he said.
“I’m really, really happy when people succeed, when I can walk away from the bench and say, I think I put that person not only on the right path, but also their mind at ease. There’s a lot of angst when you get to woodworking at this level of perfection. Perfection is an angstful place to be, ’cause it doesn’t really exist.”
This story originally appeared in The Mendocino Voice.