Julia introduces herself
First tell us something about yourself. How did you get into carpentry, and how did the idea of sharing the whole thing on Instagram come about?
I didn't really have "the" classic career path behind me, but found my way to the apprenticeship the other way around. After graduating from high school, I went to study for 6 years, where I completed a bachelor's degree in art history and a bachelor's degree in art education. During my studies to become an art teacher, I was allowed to take two courses on woodworking. During these two courses, it quickly became clear to me that manual work was a lot of fun for me.
During the semester break I then used the time to do an internship in a carpentry shop in the south of Munich (Alv Kintscher) and then very quickly decided to go straight into the second year of vocational school without a BGJ. I finished my studies during my apprenticeship, which is why I'm now an art teacher and journeyman carpenter.
The reason why I wanted to show my construction of the journeyman's piece on Instagram is that I had discovered filming for myself during my studies and found a combination of both very exciting. By chance, I came to Shapertools, who basically sponsored my journeyman's piece, and I was allowed to build it in their workshop in Stuttgart, which of course gave me even more reason to document the whole thing on social media.
Successful journeyman's piece
How did the finished journeyman's piece arrive?
I would say that the finished journeyman's piece was well received overall, and I received a lot of positive feedback, especially on Instagram. My personal opinion: with the knowledge I have learned, I would like to build my journeyman's piece again if I had the time and the space to do so. But then I would do a few things differently, because it is the builder himself who notices most of the small mistakes. I would also make some compromises in terms of scope. Because I had a lot of details that turned out to be particularly complex and had somewhat exceeded the time frame.
On tour for the craft.
Now it's time for the next action. Why do you start with “on tour. for the craft.” and how did you come up with the idea? What is the aim of the action?
Why am I with the advertising campaign “on tour. for the craft.” is mainly because I would like to pass on my enthusiasm for working with my own hands to many young people. I got the idea while I was still building the journeyman carpenter's piece in Stuttgart, where I told Flo from Shapertools that I would like to make a kind of waltz, but not in the classic sense that is no longer up-to-date for me personally, but something more modern and more digital and simply different. This is how the idea for the advertising campaign came about, which can basically also be described as a kind of digital roller coaster.
The aim of the campaign is therefore to encourage as many young people as possible to do an internship in a craft business and, ideally, to opt for an apprenticeship. Since I am travelling alone, I will manage to visit around 52 to a maximum of 104 general education schools and supervise one class each and build bee hotels with them. That would be extrapolated with a class size of 30 students, with two classes per week, over a period of 52 weeks to about 3100 bee hotels. On the one hand, the students will get to know how to work with their hands and wood, but they will also make a great contribution to protecting the biodiversity of wild bees. In addition to general schools, I will also visit vocational schools and master schools to present them on Instagram.
Mr Beam goes on tour with “. for the craft.”
How did you find out about Mr Beam, and why is it the perfect accompaniment for the campaign?
I came across Mr Beam for the first time at the same time as I got to know Shapertools, namely at the Barcamp in Munich and have been following the Instagram channel since then, because as an art teacher I naturally like the creative possibilities very much. I would describe him as the best accompaniment, because I want to show manual and digital techniques on the tour, and I can even combine both with Mr Beam. To be more precise: the children should design the sides of their bee hotel, and first do this in the classic way with a pencil. The designs are then scanned and lasered onto the workpieces with the Mr Beam.
Do you also process other materials besides wood with our laser cutter?
On the tour I will of course mainly work with wood for the reason that I want to advertise the carpentry trade, but maybe there will also be one or the other opportunity to work with other materials.
Now in general related to carpentry. Why is the Mr Beam a good tool for crafting?
I have to say that I have never encountered a laser in a carpentry shop before. Thanks to the cooperation with Shapertools and Fundermax, I know that some components of the trade fair stand at BAU and LIGNA were created using laser cutting and I see many advantages in the fast and precise possibility of individually refining and personalizing workpieces.
Finally, three “either/or” questions
Better in the workshop or on tour. for the craft.”?
I would currently answer the question as follows: Definitely clear: "on tour. for the trades.", but I know that this is not a state for the long term either. I will definitely want to work in a workshop again afterwards. But basically I think the mixture is very good, which can now be combined very well with manual work through my work as a videographer and the appearance/work at trade fairs. In general, I am a person with a wide range of interests and would like to get to know as much as possible or continue my education, which is why I will probably always keep it so mixed for me personally.
Do you prefer to cut or engrave materials?
I can't answer that clearly, I would say it depends on what you want to build and what materials you have in front of you. Depending on the material, I would say engraving or cutting is better.
Dear carpenter or content creator?
Of course: both! Since I enjoy both, working and filming and being in front of the camera, I wouldn't want to do without one or the other in my professional life. I also think it's important to show other people what you do, how you work or what the trade can look like, how versatile it is, especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers and simply because I enjoy it. I think that's because I like passing on knowledge to interested people, and I like working with interested people.
Finally, we would like to thank you very much for your detailed answers to our questions. You gave us a great insight into your work, and we are already very relaxed about the first impressions of "on tour. fürs Handwerk." You must then give us an update on the whole campaign.
In the meantime, you should all follow Julia and her account “Schreinern_auf_bayerisch” on Instagram in order not to miss any news about the campaign!
