The Dates
The workshop is held from July 7 to 12, 2025. The days start at 9 AM and last until 5MP. Full lodging is provided from Sunday, July 6 evening to Sunday, July 13 morning.

The Group 
The course will be held in English and French. Space is limited to 12 participants and is not expandable. The workshop is 100% practical—a working robe and the ability to handle tools are expected.

The frame

It’s a frame of a small shelter 3×4 m in square. It holds 8 different joints, hand hewed curve material is used on the lower part. The shelter can be built for an outdoor kitchen, garden house, tools shed or other. By the end of the class the frame will be erected hopefully on the final site. 

The Tutors

Fanch Genouël is a French carpenter based in Normandy specialised in building and preserving timber framed structures. These past few years he has been experimenting working, almost exclusively, without power tools on large framing projects – from hewing to raising. Fanch was the first time in Estonia in 2015 to join Vanaajamaja project to put a new shingle roof on Puutli church and in 2022 to join a restoration project of windmills on the island Vilsandi.

Germain Joyet is a French-Estonian carpenter and cabinet maker. He studied technical drawing and worked in an engineer office in Switzerland for a while, but last ten years he has done woodwork in Estiona as an independent carpenter – built log and timber framed constructions, restored and made new furniture from chairs to hall closets, doors, windows, etc. Germain joined Vanaajamaja team in 2014 after graduating Vanaajamaja international log-building workshop and moving to Estonia.

Training site
The course will be held in the Vanaajamaja Center for Traditional Building and Crafts. It is located in the small village of Mooste, in southern Estonia. The Center is a renovated old grain dryer surrounded by 16th-century Mooste Manor. The Training Center consists of a broad workshop with a enormous two-story heritage-protected kiln oven, a seminar room with an exposition of traditional building materials, a small kitchenette for coffee breaks and a Finish sauna. All tools needed during the course and safety equipment for the participants are made available on the training site. However, if you have your favourite hand tools you are used to, bring them along without hesitation.

Accommodation
Accommodations are at the small private Mooste guesthouse (double occupancy), which is a restored building in the historic manor complex. All meals will be provided with an emphasis on local food. 

Cost
1090 EUR, includes everything in-country: tuition, accommodation, all meals, and organized field trips. Full lodging is provided from Sunday, July 6 evening to Sunday, July 13 morning. Participants are responsible for their own international transport, travel insurance, and extra-curricular costs.

We are expecting the deposit of the participation fee (300 euros) to be paid within two weeks after registration to guarantee a spot for the participant. The deposit is not refundable. The rest of the tuition (790 euros) is to be paid by May 31st. 

Sign up!

Organizer
The course will be hosted by Vanaajamaja, an Estonian non-profit organization dedicated to establishing training programs, disseminating information, and generally serving as a centre of Estonian traditional building and log house renovation. Vanaajaamaja has been hosting workshops and organizing training courses for Estonian carpenters since 1998.

More information: info@vanaajamaja.ee; +372 56658117