Learn about green woodworking for carving spoons, turning bowls and more from voices like Jögge Sundquist, Jarrod Dahl, Ben Law, Barn the Spoon, Robin Wood & Sylva Spoon
In honor of our wintertime in our neck of the woods, we are focusing the next couple episodes on different themes of making the most of long winter downtime in the Northern parts of the world.
To start things off, we begin this series with introducing the craft tradition of Slöjd (or Sloyd) which is a Swedish word that for many hundreds of years has referred to being self sufficient through the act of craft. Simple hand tools, simple techniques to build anything.
Hear some interviews with several folks of the Scandinavian Slöjd tradition of woodworking and beyond to American, English & Japanese traditions as well.
- Audio Clip – video link >
- Audio Clip – video link >
- Audio Clip – video link >
- Audio Clip – video link >
- Audio Clip – video link >
- Audio Clip – video link >
Slöjd is characterized by being developed within a tradition:
- with responsibility and control for production from maker to user
- with hand tools and intuitive skills
- with natural slöjd materials
- with resource efficiency through recycling
- with a personal expression.
“Slöjd is part of the self-sufficient household, how people survived before industrialization. Slöjd is the work method farmers used when they made tools for house building, farming and fishing, and objects for their household needs. For thousands of years, the knowledge of the material has deepened, and the use of the tools has evolved along with the understanding of how function, composition and form combine to make objects strong and useful.”
― Jögge Sundquist
Slöjd is based on historical peasant traditions of self-sufficiency. Before the industrial era, people had to make most of the things they needed from materials that were found around their farms. As agricultural people, they had easy access to many natural materials and knew their uses. Those who did woodworking had a natural introduction as children that continued throughout their lives. The social, religious and practical aspects of survival dictated the types and forms of everyday objects. The ordinary farmer used relatively common tools; professional craftsmen such as blacksmiths or carpenters had more extensive, specialized tool kits.
“The word slöjd derives from the word stem slög, which dates to the 9th century. Slög means ingenious, clever and artful. It reflects the farmers’ struggle for survival and how it made them skilled in using the natural materials surrounding the farm: wood, flax, hide, fur, horn and metal. I have picked up a dialect expression from my home county, Västerbotten, that has become a personal motto. We say Int’ oslög, “not uncrafty,” about a person who is handy and practical. Slöjd in its pure self-sufficient use is characterized by an individual using simple tools with great skill, a deep knowledge of raw materials, and the ability to solve functional problems. The resulting objects are intended for the maker’s personal use.”
― Jögge Sundquist
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