Christian Rummel, from travelling calf to master carpenter

The first meeting with Christian Rummel was in 2019 at Naturalpaint Workshop from Cisnădioara. The opportunity to learn about wood fibre insulation directly from Gutex specialists prompted him to come with his apprentice. His curiosity and involvement attracted attention and made you want to know his story. There wasn't time then to talk more, but ... in 2022, I met him again at NZEB Week in Clujas an exhibitor. We had time to talk more and found out that he is a master carpenter, that he has participated in many restorations of monuments. The density of the event left us no time for life stories, but we promised to meet again soon. A work in Bucharest was the perfect occasion for a long-awaited reunion. He greeted us in his typical work attire of flared trousers, white blouse and vest. We sat quietly and chatted about the beginnings of woodworking, his travels, coming to Romania and his ongoing desire to pass on what he had learned.

When I was 7 years old, when others were getting who knows what plastic toys, I got a chisel

Christian is German from Bavaria and now lives in Romania. He is a master carpenter, specialising in stairs, joinery and restoration. Wood has been part of his life since he was a child. One of his childhood presents was a chisel which he still has today. He developed as a professional woodworker according to German culture, learning both theory and practice.

From the age of 14, he spent his Saturdays and holidays at a nearby carpentry firm as an apprentice to the firm's specialists. He thus participated in the construction of roof trusses and even wooden houses. At the age of 16, he started studying at a vocational school and for three years specialised in wooden stairs. After graduation, he went on the traditional journey of the horse that lasted another 3 years.

"You can't do this trip anyway, you have to follow certain rules. You can't have bank debts, no criminal record, you can't be married or have children. You can't leave anyone behind, you can't have any obligations. For 3 years you travel to learn and improve your skills and during this time you are not allowed to have a car or a mobile phone. You're not allowed to go home for the whole period, nor are you allowed to live within 50 km of home."

His traditional travels have taken him to countries in Europe and South America with carpentry and joinery work. He has worked in Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, Italy, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru. He has had the opportunity to see the differences in the way of building, to study peculiarities, to learn secrets. He first visited Romania in 2007 and returned in 2008.

After this trip, he took a restoration course. One of his teachers told him about a social project in Mediaș and asked him if he wanted to get involved. He agreed, and at 25 he returned to Romania, but this time he stayed connected to our country.

Restoration projects and workshops combined with your own staircase and carpentry firm

The project she came to Mediaș for was aimed at children who wanted to learn a trade. Parallel to this project, he opened his own workshop and started making various works. He has been involved in important restoration projects and has contributed to the rescue of UNESCO protected historical monuments such as church in Biertan. It has clients and private individuals who renovate or refurbish old houses.

The way he talks about restoration projects, you can tell he's passionate about the subject and knows a lot about carpentry and joinery. He manages to combine modern methods of design and age determination very well precisely because he knows and appreciates the way things were done in the past.

"If you've never chopped beams with an axe you don't know what that means and then you don't appreciate it. But if you know how they once worked then you appreciate it, you don't destroy and you don't cut and throw away a piece of beam unless it's impossible to recover. Then you replace and find reversible and resilient solutions that fit perfectly. And the added part needs to show, you don't hide it. It's also your pride that you made that work fit perfectly, that you helped save it." 

He believes that education is extremely necessary and it is important to know a job well. During all this time, Christian has tried at every opportunity to pass on his knowledge of wood and the craft by giving courses and training those interested. He has taught volunteers on various restoration sites about wood and wood salvage, and has given courses to employees of construction companies. He would have liked to have coalesced initiatives, to do more for vocational education, but to succeed requires involvement from many directions. And that's even though he has been invited by representatives of the Ministry of Education to sit on various certification committees.

Back to school in Germany, both as a student and as a teacher

In 2021, he said it was time to go back to school. He learned about building strength, design software and became a master carpenter with the right signature.

"In Germany, a master carpenter is the equivalent of an architect or a structural engineer. He has the right to sign documents in the file for various permits, such as building permits. He can also do strength calculations."

Since 2022 he teaches at a master carpentry school based in Konstanz (Bodensee) and workshops in Bavaria. He travels between Romania and Germany to teach students about the strength of joinery, timber construction, modern design software and how to draw by hand. He says this is the basis, if you don't know how to draw by hand, it will be hard to learn the software. That's why the final exam is also based on hand drawing.

Dual education is needed. The job needs to be learnt both in theory and practice

Christian's regret is that there is no dual education in Romania, there is no link between theory and practice. Vocational schools no longer exist, there is no real guild of carpenters and there is a lack of institutions representing the trades. Hence the lack of craftsmen, specialists and standards. Standards that should be imposed by the institutions that represent the trades because they know best how a job should be done. Now these standards are imposed by the ministry through the rules implementing the laws.

I talked a lot with Christian, our discussion touching and developing various topics. The full interview will appear soon on the youtube Wooden magazine.