Hendrike Farenholtz

A carpenter with a knack for design

• Hendrike makes solid wood furniture
• Her clients are very involved in the making process
• She mainly focuses on cupboards and office furniture

After her anthropology and art history studies, Hendrike Farenholtz decided to become a carpenter. This training led her to travel around as a journeywoman learning from master craftspeople including Andrew Kindler in London and Sir Terence Conran in Salisbury, as well as some time in Sarawak, East Malaysia, thanks to a scholarship. In 1989 Hendrike opened her own workshop in Hamburg where she has been working on her signature furniture ever since – bespoke pieces where sober and elegant forms meet clever functionality. Even years later, the process of gluing individual solid wood parts into a three-dimensional object never ceases to surprise her. “Every time it is an exciting moment for me and a little surprise in terms of expression and the spatial effect.”

Interview

©Hendrike Farenholtz

©Hendrike Farenholtz

What do you love about woodwork?

I like the process of handcrafting, from the sketch of an idea to construction drawings, choosing a log from the timber merchant that perfectly suits the piece of furniture, cutting the wood and making the individual parts.

What do you specialise in?

Bespoke cupboards, for example for people who want furniture for the perfect storage and presentation of objects. Also furniture for working spaces; we spend a lot of time on that as things change according to different personal and professional needs.

What does your creation process look like?

All designs are created in a joint process involving extensive dialogue with my clients. Sometimes the whole family comes to the workshop to witness the process of creation, or we go to the timber merchant together to choose the most beautiful trunk.

When is an object well made?

I want the furniture I design to be as simple and comprehensible as a well thought out and wonderfully functioning tool. At first glance it must entice you to touch and use it. Sometimes I want my furniture to do more than it initially reveals, to change through movement or to reveal surprising interior spaces.

Hendrike Farenholtz is a master artisan: she began her career in 1989 and she started teaching in 1994

Works

©Heiner Leiska

©Heiner Leiska

©Heiner Leiska

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