Amateur artisans find their groove with woodwork

Learning from the pros

With many enthusiasts seeking professional training, carpentry workshops have sprung up across a number of cities.

In Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Chen Dawei has become a mentor for many urbanites seeking to upgrade their skills.

Chen said he believes his trainees are fulfilling a yearning to work with their hands and find moments of calm "amid the scent of pine and the scatter of wood chips".

Nine years ago, Chen was in the agriculture industry in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. He cultivated sunflowers and corn, before venturing into poultry and pig farming.

"Back then, you had to learn to do everything with your own hands — welding, building frames, repairing pens. If you didn't know how, you just had to grit your teeth and learn," he said.

In 2015, he moved south to Hangzhou and started from scratch in woodworking. "It was just when the 'artisan spirit' trend was emerging. I discovered that working with wood felt more grounding than anything else I'd done," he said.

Since 2022, Chen and his team have focused on teaching adults. They designed an intensive program, where within eight days, students progress from sawing lumber and sharpening tools to reading diagrams, and ultimately completing three items: a practice joint, a stool and a dovetail box.

He vividly remembers a session in the sweltering July heat last summer. The studio had no air conditioning. Two of the three students were female teachers who stuck to traditional methods, chiseling mortises and sawing tenons entirely by hand. "Their clothes were soaked through, but no one complained," he said.

His students come from all walks of life, including designers eager to bring ideas to life, new mothers searching for identity beyond child care, and people considering a career shift. Most are absolute beginners, but share a powerful sense of purpose, he has noticed.

"Many say woodworking heals them," Chen said, adding he too once relied on honing his craft to make it through difficult times. "With every chip you carve away, some of your worries also peel away," he said.

After the course ends, many of the participants tackle more complex projects. Some build home furniture, while others carve a simple spoon or a hairpin.

But not everyone makes it through the course. A young woman from Beijing hoping to blend woodwork into her ceramic art, left on the fourth day due to exhaustion. "Woodworking demands physical strength and patience," Chen said.