12.05.2023.

The student becomes the teacher

In a busy workshop, several first-year students are gathered around an original Sjöbergs 1900 bench, enthusiastically listening to the master teacher, Kaj Jakobsen. The demonstration is on how to create a perfect dovetail by using a caliper. Around them other students are busily at work doing carpentry, providing a lovely background noise to the Kaj’s lecture.

The road to get to where he is today has been long. The first time he heard about Carl Malmsten was in various books and interviews with James Krenov, a famous carpenter who  studied at the Malmstens school in the 1950´s. Kaj wanted to find out more about this type of education and found Capellagården, which he eagerly applied to.

-"I spend a lot of time with first-year students teaching them the importance of the basics techniques.

After three years in Sweden, he was both newly graduated and newly in love. During his three years of  study he met Kerstin, who was also studying at Capellagården, but at the Trägårdsutbildningen. Kaj took his Swedish girlfriend to Canada and they lived there for several years. He worked part-time as a craft teacher as well as running his own business making kitchen fittings and furniture.

In 2018, they moved back to Sweden and when the job as a teacher at Capellagården came up, it felt natural to apply. Now he and his family have a farm on Öland. The house is from the 1800s and they are currently renovating it. Everything is been undertaken according to building conservation methodology, with environmentally friendly materials and sustainable techniques.

Kaj is also very grateful for his work as a teacher. He loves to create things. Most of his ideas come straight from his head but sometimes he also sketches and plans his designs. He finds joy and inspiration from nature, his upbringing and the love of hiking in the mountains. He mostly works in wood but will incorporate both metal and textile if the project calls for it.