Kesurokai

Profile: Cormac Seekings

Cormac Seekings' passion is the use of roundwood and minimally converted timbers in both framed and notched log carpentry.

Based in Scotland, he is one of the four UK attendees at this years' Kesurokai, inspired by the experience of working with the Japanese carpentry group at the 2007 torii gateway event. Afterwards he will be spending some weeks on a study tour of vernacular Minka. 

The tradition of Minka farmhouses is fertile ground for studying both framed and notched log carpentry, combined in a different way and with a very different perspective on both structure and joinery, from that in northern Europe.

Cormac believes that regional Minka, from cold and humid/cold parts of Japan, can inform aspects of a new vernacular of wooden craft-building in Scotland, and is keen to help develop this as part of his involvement with self-builder assistance and skill training for low impact buildings.

Profile: Hannes Schnelle

Hannes is the main organisor of Kesurokai from the European side, having also been responsible for the events in 2005 and 2007 in Germany.

After undertaking a three-year cabinet making apprenticeship, Hannes became a journeyman, traveling away from his home town in Germany both to share his skills and learn new ones. His travels took him to Japan where in 2003 he became the last temple carpenter apprentice to the highly respected craftsman, Sugimura san who was the originator for Kesurokai in Japan. During this period Hannes learned the Japanese language, became accepted by the craft community, and now regularly returns to work there.

Since 2006 he has worked in Germany producing traditional Japanese carpentry with a European influence. This involves small-scale projects such as shōji, traditional Japanese sliding screen doors, and large-scale timber framing projects. He also regularly teaches traditional tool skills and tool sharpening, as well as demonstrating and giving presentations about his work.

He has been working closely with Amemiya san on this year's Chisana Kesurokai since 2008 and you can see pictures of him working with the Japanese team on their web site (in Japanese, unless you look at it via something like Google translate).