Bring your bowed instrument, guitar, or ukulele for a check-up or minor maintenance to the Bouwerskontakt repair shop stand!
Of course, you can also get information about courses, maintenance, and repairs. The instrument-building groups for bowed instruments, guitar building, harpsichord building, and barrel organ building will all be present.
Do you want to learn a new skill yourself? During the festival, Bouwerskontakt is also offering workshops in bending wood with a bending iron and violin making: carving an f-hole.
If you are interested in building a musical instrument, at Bouwerskontakt, you can learn how. Of course, building a complete instrument by hand takes time. During the workshops at the Ambacht in Beeld Festival, you can learn to make a part and get acquainted with some of the skills and techniques.
Bouwerskontakt is part of Huismuziek, an association for music and instrument building, with the aim of exchanging, making available, expanding, and spreading knowledge and experience about instrument making. Members range from hobbyists to professional builders and make both historical and modern instruments, such as guitars, violins, harpsichords, organs, barrel organs, and recorders. Most activities take place at Houtclub-Ede.
Experience what you can create with wood on a floor and feel like a real parquet installer for a moment! In this ongoing, free workshop, you will create your own mini parquet floor using different types of wood. You will glue pre-cut wood pixels (1 x 1 cm) onto a base plate, using your own creativity.
Het Gilde van Parketteurs is dedicated to preserving the craft of parquet installation. Members are invited several times a year to participate in various workshops. In addition, the guild is active at events to promote the craft. They also organize courses and study trips specifically curated to maintain a high level of professional expertise among parquet specialists.
Eric Jongmans is the chairman of the Gilde van Parketteurs and has been a Master Parquet Installer since 2012. He brings more than 40 years of experience “on the floor” and runs his own company specializing in traditional parquet floors. During the workshops, he is supported by several guild members who represent the parquet craft in a masterful way. Eric knows better than anyone how to share his passion for the craft and enjoys inspiring others with this unique and versatile profession.
During this continuous workshop, you will make your own seed paper from recycled paper pulp, embedding flower seeds into it. Next, you will shape the paper into a flower, a bee, or a butterfly.
Take your creation home, plant it in a pot or in your garden, and watch real flowers bloom over time!
Technika10 Leiden has existed for over 25 years and aims to promote technical skills and knowledge of technology among children. They organize workshops that inspire wonder and are educational. Real tools and materials are used, such as wood, metal, plastic, and motors powered by batteries or solar cells.
Everyone has put a pair of scissors into a sheet of paper at some point, but in this workshop you will go one step further. After a short introduction, you will learn the basic techniques from experienced paper cutters. You will then apply these in a simple assignment yourself. At the end of the workshop, you will go home with one or two paper-cut artworks. Success guaranteed.
For centuries, thousands of people worldwide have enjoyed paper cutting. It is fun and relaxing, and both young and old create beautiful artworks with it. So many cutters, so many variations. This special craft has therefore been included in the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Netherlands.
The workshop leaders are members of De Nederlandse Vereniging voor Papierkunst, the meeting place for hobby cutters and professional artists. They are specially trained to teach interested participants the tricks of the trade. Most of them regularly exhibit their work.
Bring your favorite stuffed animal to the free walk-in consultation for stuffed animals and dolls that need some extra care. Femke is happy to repair holes, reattach loose limbs, provide extra stuffing, and replace eyes or noses.
Femke Wijman is the maker behind Mama Poppendokter and specializes in restoring and repairing beloved stuffed animals and dolls. From a child’s favorite stuffed animal to a birth teddy bear over 100 years old, or a doll that has been in the family for generations: each piece requires attention, craftsmanship, and respect for its original character. Restoration includes repairing damaged fabric, fixing seams, tears, and loose parts, renewing stuffing, cleaning delicate materials, and carrying out careful restorations. It is not only about technique, but also about preservation: of shape, appearance, signs of use, and emotional value. In this way, stuffed animals and dolls are given a second life, without losing their own character.
The materials are sponsored by De Rechte Steek.
Bring your chisel, plane or scissors to the knife sharpener and have them professionally sharpened.
In the past, the knife sharpener would ring his bell and everyone would rush outside to have their knives sharpened. Today, this profession has almost disappeared. Knife smith Wander Vanhoucke has brought this ancient craft back to life. With his mobile sharpening workshop built on a converted vintage racing bike, he is present at the repair shop so everyone can work with sharp tools again.
Wander Vanhoucke started sharpening knives at the age of fourteen, after struggling to cut through a tomato while cooking. He is now twenty-two and forges knives for (Michelin-star) chefs across Europe. With a keen eye for detail, he carefully matches steel type, wood, shape and balance to each client’s needs. Last winter, Wander went viral with his mobile knife sharpening service, which brings sharpening directly to people’s homes in an effort to combat a throwaway culture.
Bring your own chisel, plane, scissors (or any other tools)!
Does your fountain pen no longer write properly or not as smoothly as it used to? Give your pen a second life and visit master fountain pen restorer Carlo de Croock for (free) maintenance, repair or restoration.
Carlo de Croock of D’n Ouwe Vulpen Repair Shop specialises in restoring and repairing old and antique fountain pens.
A message from Carlo: “I often use parts from other old fountain pens, or so-called donor pens. If people still have fountain pens lying around that they no longer use and want to get rid of, I would be extremely grateful if they could bring them to me. This way I can continue repairing fountain pens using original parts and keep repair costs low.”
During this workshop, you will transform a square wooden batten into an almost round peg, which can be used to securely lock a timber joint. You will learn to use a hand plane and work with a chisel. We also focus on proper working posture while planing and you will learn how to correctly set a plane iron. We work with spruce or larch wood.
Afterwards, you will take your self-made peg home. You will also have the opportunity to assemble a wooden construction puzzle. Of course, during the workshop we are happy to tell you more about the educational course Technician in Wood and Restoration.
At the stand, we bring a scale model of a traditional Zaans house and a windmill in a meadow to demonstrate traditional timber construction. Students from the programme are working on various pieces, such as a Douglas timber frame and even a wooden shovel. There are many examples on display, from simple to highly complex workpieces. In short, there is plenty to see.
Technician in Wood and Restoration is the only fully-fledged vocational level 3 programme to become a restoration carpenter. It is offered at five locations in the Netherlands: Hengelo, Arnhem, Zaandam, and since last year also in Groningen and Roermond. During this three-year programme, you learn to work wood using hand tools, electric hand tools, stationary machines, and even CNC-controlled machines, so you can work confidently both in the workshop and on location. Restoration of timber structures and buildings is at the core of the programme, but you will also learn traditional timber construction techniques and new-build woodworking.
The family business Hawar Textielinstituut (Hawar Textile Institute) is a paradise for textile enthusiasts. Teachers from the Netherlands and abroad share their knowledge and skills in the large, cozy workshop in Oldeberkoop (Friesland). In addition, there is a well-stocked shop and an inspiring gallery, making it a hub where both new and traditional materials and textile techniques are (re)discovered.
During the festival, Hawar will sell various materials and tools for textile enthusiasts, and you can join the workshop Experimenting with Plant Dye Printing. At the Hawar stand, you can also purchase the magazine Vezel.
In Vezel, you can read personal textile adventures and will be inspired by the enthusiasm of others. Knowledge, skills and experience are shared. Discover new techniques and materials, or innovative applications of already existing techniques and materials. What could be more enjoyable than getting started with them yourself afterwards? Vezel inspires you to dream, imagine and experiment!
What started over 40 years ago as a newsletter about spinning and dyeing has grown over the years into a broad and practical textile magazine, still published by the Spin- & Verfkrant Foundation; a group of volunteers who believe it is important that knowledge of materials and techniques is shared in today’s world, keeping the craft alive.
At the stand of Amsterdamsche Fijnhout you will find unique pieces of wood with beautiful grain, texture and colour. Ideal for wood carving, woodturning, bases, chopping boards and much more. In addition to wood, Japanese pull saws are also available. These produce an exceptionally fine cut, and you are very welcome to try them out.
Amsterdamsche Fijnhouthandel is a family business that has been operating since 1898. Starting as a furniture workshop in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam, it has grown into one of the most specialised timber merchants in the Netherlands. Wood is an extremely versatile material, which attracts a very diverse clientele. From boat builders to artists, and from furniture makers to landscapers: everyone finds their way to Amsterdam.
Amsterdamsche Fijnhout increasingly sources and promotes a wide range of European wood species such as oak, ash and maple. Tropical hardwoods are preferably purchased with FSC certification and are fully traceable to their origin. In addition, old stock of special timber is acquired to ensure new supply without the need for additional logging.
Since 2021, the company has been based in a new facility designed to be as energy-neutral as possible. With the help of 300 solar panels, the sawmill runs on solar energy for most of the year. The forklifts are fully electric. Waste is kept to a minimum by selling even small offcuts or giving them away as samples.
Amsterdamsche Fijnhouthandel sponsors the wood for the tiny house children’s workshop at this Ambacht in Beeld Festival.
Festival address:
NDSM Loods
NDSM-Plein 85
1033 WC Amsterdam
Postal address:
Stichting Ambacht in Beeld
Kalf 158
1509AH Zaandam
The Netherlands
