Making Things Right: A Master Carpenter at Work - Hardcover

Thorstensen, Ole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0857056689 ISBN 13: 9780857056689

Publisher: MacLehose Press, 2017

Synopsis

A celebration of good craftsmanship by a Norwegian master carpenter - the anatomy of a job well done.

"An enriching and poetic tribute to manual labour" Karl Ove Knausgård

"In Thorstensen's skilled hands, the everyday story of a suburban loft conversion is turned into an urgent study on the value of doing good work. It should be widely read." Robert Penn - author of The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees

This is, quite simply, the story of a loft conversion. It is also a book about work and identity, about collaboration and pride in skilled craftsmanship, and about what it means to make things with your hands in a consumerism-driven world.

A master carpenter and builder with thirty years' experience, Thorstensen gives a matter-of-fact, reflective voice to the workers who construct our living spaces and our urban environment. He looks upon his tools as an important part of himself and as a reflection of his respect for his trade, and he addresses the gulf in understanding and communication between skilled craftsmen and "academic" workers.

From the moment of a client's phone call to their occupation of a newly constructed living space, Making Things Right tracks the project as it takes shape: the delicate negotiation to establish an optimum plan; the collaboration with a trusted team of specialist painters, plasterers, plumbers, electricians; the handling of materials; the blood, sweat and frustration involved in doing a job well.

Why is it that manual skills are underestimated? After all, working with your hands gives you time to think. With all its practical detail, Making Things Right is the simple philosophy of a working life.

Will interest readers of The Craftsman by Richard Sennett: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain; The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees by Robert Penn; Do No Harm by James Marsh and A Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

Translated from the Norwegian by Sean Kinsella

About this title

About the Author

Ole Thorstensen was born in Arendal, Norway, and makes his debut as an author with a story about work and identity and a tribute to manual labour. Thorstensen was raised on Tromøy, an island with five thousand inhabitants. He is a trained carpenter, and has worked for twenty-five years in the construction industry. He now lives in Eidsvoll, six miles north of Oslo.

Edition details

• Publisher: MacLehose Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0857056689
• ISBN 13: 9780857056689
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256