Who Gets to Build the Future of Joinery?
There is nothing particularly remarkable about a woman building a kitchen.
And maybe, that’s the point.
Joinery is still a trade where you’re far more likely to find men on the workshop floor. Yet of the two apprentices The Custom Space has taken on in recent years, both have been women. One has recently completed her apprenticeship and become a qualified joiner.
We could tell you that makes us proud. It does.
There’s a bigger conversation worth having.
Like many trades, joinery needs its next generation. National apprentice numbers have just hit a 15 year low. Apprenticeships require time, patience and a willingness from businesses to teach someone who doesn’t know everything yet. It’s an investment, but without businesses making that investment, where do tomorrow’s experienced joiners come from?
You cannot advertise for ten years of experience if nobody was prepared to give someone their first year.”
Modern joinery involves craftsmanship, certainly, but also technology, technical drawings, machinery, mathematics, problem solving, an eye for detail and an almost unreasonable appreciation for getting something exactly right.
There are physical days, frustrating days, but also days when something that began as a drawing leaves the workshop as a beautifully finished piece of someone’s home.
So we asked our own apprentice/ newly qualified joiner - Becky and Malin, about the reality.
What was harder than they expected?
Malin: Coming from outside the industry and having English as my second language meant learning a whole new vocabulary around joinery.
Becky: The confidence side of it. There’s so much to learn in joinery, and I’ve had to trust my own judgement and not second-guess myself so much. With more experience, I’ve become a lot more confident in backing myself and what I know.
What came naturally?
Malin: Focusing on small details and having an eye for shape and form. I immediately loved working with timber.
Becky: Fitting into the workshop environment and becoming part of the team. I love the banter, the laughs and all the different people you meet. I’ve also been told I have a good attitude towards learning, which is something I pride myself on.
And what would they tell another young woman/ person considering a trade?
Malin: It’s important to have the right working environment. I value workplace culture.
Becky: I’d honestly encourage young men and women to give a trade a go. One of the biggest things for me is that you literally get paid while you’re learning.
You’re gaining a qualification, earning money, learning on the job and meeting some great people along the way, without coming out the other side with a student loan.
I think joinery is a great trade for women. There’s a lot of attention to detail involved, it’s incredibly satisfying seeing what you’ve made at the end of a job, and I’d love to see more women giving it a go. Even once youre qualified, theres still so much to learn, which is something I really liked about the trade.
“ Around three per cent of New Zealanders on the tools are women. Six per cent of apprentices starting in the building trades are female, which still sounds low until you realise that five years ago, it was under one per cent.”
Their answers weren’t about proving women can do the job.
They were about learning to do the job well.
And maybe that’s where the conversation should be heading.
Not “Can women become joiners?”
We’ve answered that one.
The more interesting question is how many great joiners we might be missing because they never thought to become one.
THE CUSTOM SPACE
Joinery that feels like home.