A thousand hands ago

This is a very quiet look at the making of beautiful things.

Specifically the making of a wooden kayak, by Danish builder Anders Thygesen, using ancient methods. 

If you love wood, or water, or the right way of doing things, you should enjoy this.

A short film about of recalling the knowledge of long dead craftsmen. Over the course of three days, Danish kayak builder Anders Thygesen builds an Aleutian iqyax by the shore of his local lake. He reflects on the process of learning these skills from masters whom he has never met. Shot and edited by Silje Ensby. www.siljeensby.com Music by Pernille Meidell. https://soundcloud.com/meidell To read more about Anders work, visit kajakkspesialisten.no/e_index.php. En kortdokumentar om å studere under læremestere som for lengst er borte.  Med kroppen som måleredskap bygger Anders Thygesen en tradisjonell iqyax ved Eikeren i Buskerud, mens han reflekterer rundt prosessen ved å studere under læremestere han aldri har møtt.

From timber to tide

The weather outside is frightful. Seems like a perfect day to build something.

Ben Harris built this beautiful boat entirely by hand. This four-minute portrait is a beautiful look at the work and the reward of doing so.

As for me, I'm planning to build a Dark 'N' Stormy later this afternoon. I intend to apply the same love and care to the project.

A new film in our maker series. Ben Harris is a traditional wooden boat builder based in Cornwall, UK. This film documents Ben Harris’ love of wood work and boat building, how he acquired his skills, and how incredible it is to be able to take something that you’ve built with your own hands out onto the water and sail it across the sea. Who is Ben Harris? Ben has always loved wood. His mother said that his first word was ‘log’. He has been working with wood throughout the UK since the age of 15. First as an assistant to a cabinet maker, where he started by sharpening the tools and clearing up. He then developed his skills in furniture making and his passion for wood and forestry by working in broadleaf woodlands. Later he tuned his skills in bespoke oak-framed carpentry and went on to establish a sawmill and oak framing business in Scotland, sourcing timber from the local estates. In 2005 Ben moved to Cornwall to study boatbuilding. He has been building boats and sailing them ever since. http://www.benharrisboats.co.uk/ Shooting from timber to tide We spent three days with Ben, staying with him in the idyllic handbuilt wooden cabin he lives in, in Constantine, Cornwall. When we arrived Wednesday, late afternoon, the plan was to make pumpkin soup and couldn’t believe our luck when we discovered the open fire cooking area in the garden. Within an hour after arriving we were already shooting some lovely material. The next day we covered the area around the house, the two workshops, the woods and recorded the voice-over. The real treat came on Friday morning when we took his self-built sailing yacht Alva out on Falmouth’s waters. First we covered the beautiful yacht from a motor boat with skipper Matthew Dale and dog Ruben, before we stepped on board ourselves and got close to the action. What a great experience. Stills and behind-the-scenes pictures are available on our website: http://www.pixillion.com/our-work/film/from-timber-to-tide Credits and technical information Directed by Remco Merbis and Fern Scott. Cinematography, grade and edit by Remco Merbis. Sound recorded by Fern Scott. Music by Jonny Pryor. https://vimeo.com/pseudohaiku Thanks to Ben Harris, Jack Adair Bevan, Jacob Dodd and Matthew Dale. Sony PXW-FS7 Metabones Speedbooster Ultra Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 II USM Lens Manfrotto 546GBK with 504HD head tripod DJI Ronin Chinese Lantern Shot at 25 and 50 fps at 1080p and 4K. Graded in DaVinci Resolve, using Osiris cinematic film emulation 3D LUTs at 1080p HD with added 35mm film grain.

The boats of Carriacou

Carriacou is the largest island in the Grenadines, which are part of the Windward Islands chain. It's a beautiful, slow, real place where 4,500 people go about their business on their 13-square-mile piece of land.

A big part of their business is boat building. You see these wonderful wooden boats all over the island in various stages of construction. And of course, they're on the water too, painted exactly how all boats should be painted. 

Twenty-Eight Feet: life on a little wooden boat

Every single thing about this short documentary is perfect. David Welsford traded his previous reality for one on the sea, living aboard a 50-year old sailboat he restored himself. The simplicity of small spaces and the sea, all together in one life. Damn. 

You can learn more about David here.