Carpentry in Denmark and the rise of the hipster chippy

Young people drawn to the profession because they want to create things with their hands – how long before we start calling them chipsters?

Lucie Rychla

Mar 3, 2016

Artisan courses are becoming increasingly popular in Denmark.

Over the past three years, the number of young people taking up carpentry has nearly doubled from 564 in 2013 to 1,034 in 2015.

“We have registered a huge surge in popularity in carpentry in recent years,” said Ulrik Bak Nielsen, the head of development at Next – Uddannelse København.

“That’s why we have to reject some of them and we try to refer them to other related occupations. However, carpentry training is simply the dream for many youngsters right now.”

New trend in hipster culture
Many of the applicants are young academics and architects, Nielsen noted.

According to lifestyle expert Mads Arlien-Søborg, there is currently a trend amongst hipsters to learn classic craftsmanship skills and to create things with their hands.

Arnt Louw from the Centre for Youth Research has also pointed out that not all university graduates are able to get a job and there has been more focus on improving the quality of vocational educations.

Besides, Denmark will lack up to 30,000 artisan workers in the coming years, according to Louw.

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