With commendation and a silver medal
From HÅNDVÆRK bookazine 3, published in September 2020, the bookazine is sold out with English text
Chapter 1
When I first met Sophie Roth Clemmensen 2½ years ago, she had just set up a large workshop in the most beautiful setting imaginable, a side wing to the weaver Karin Carlander’s workshop in the town of Raadvad, and was ready to establish her own company, Raadvad Møbelsnedkeri (Raadvad Cabinetmaking).
At the time I wrote in an online article:
How men and women, respectively, are presented in the media, how to gain access and on what terms – these are questions that, unfortunately, remain relevant.
Frida Ramstedt, who is one of Sweden’s most popular bloggers, often uses her platform to draw attention to biases, idiocy and obvious absurdities in the interior design business. Thus, she recently picked up on a comment the Swedish feminist Nina Åkestam made in her Instagram account, objecting to the fact that for a female entrepreneur to be noticed by the media, the path goes through her home and her personal beauty. To qualify, the home has to be beautifully (and expensively) renovated, with exquisite furniture and original art on the walls. This is the case even if the topic is her entrepreneurship, which could not possibly have generated this wealth. When did you last see a male entrepreneur climb up on his kitchen table to talk about his choice of wallpaper or the fittings for his kitchen cabinets when the issue at hand is his career? asks Frida Ramstedt. Nina Åkestam’s point is that it is a way of infantilizing women. The media are not telling the story of interesting female business profiles and what they do to create a successful enterprise; instead they are communicating the hidden message that the key to a happy life is looking good and inheriting or marrying money. Moreover, the media paint their readers as stupid by assuming that all they want is a picture-perfect cliché.
Of course, the woman might have earned her own money before becoming an entrepreneur and sitting on the table in the beautiful kitchen.
As I see it, it can be interesting to the readers to see people’s homes in order to get a feel for what kind of persons they are, but spare me the stereotypes and give me whole people – young and old, men and women.
I continued: Here are some photographs of a female cabinetmaker in her workshop. She is smart and very competent, and she is also young and beautiful. When she meets with male consultants, they sometimes suggest that she climb up on her own furniture to be photographed while she poses. That is sure to sell furniture to wealthy men, is their well-intended advice!
Sophie, who was then Sophie Clemmensen, prefers to be selected for her professional skills, which she has in abundance, both as a cabinetmaker and as a designer; and selected she is – her workshop is a busy place. ‘Busy and messy,’ she warns me, as we agree to meet. ‘But you know, not like a man’s mess!’
Raadvad Møbelsnedkeri makes bespoke furniture for a discerning, quality-conscious audience. However, she does not have a beautifully renovated kitchen. On the contrary; she recently gave up her flat to reduce her monthly expenses. Establishing a company means taking a chance, both in professional and financial terms, and during the summer she plans to sleep on the beach or on a mattress in the back of her van, ‘I expect I’ll find a flat or a room in autumn or when it gets cold,’ she says. Hard pushed, Sophie admits that her plans of camping out on the beach or sleeping in her van this summer are not just about cutting costs; the sense of adventure appeals to her too.
A month went by. Sophie injured her arm on the band saw. It was difficult to run her business with just one working arm! Frankly put, the outlook was pretty bleak.
Chapter 2
– a truly romantic story
I hear this story sitting in the kitchen in the quadrangle-style farmhouse that is now Sophie and her husband, Frederik Roth Clemmensen’s, new home. We are on the island of Bornholm. The couple, aged 29 and 30, respectively, are expecting their first child and moved in a few months ago.
They have made good use of the time, painting, renovating, fixing up the chicken coop, planting a kitchen garden and, not least, establishing a joint cabinetmaking workshop – Raadvad Møbelsnedkeri Bornholm – in the former piggery.
‘We met on a date the summer when Sophie had injured her arm. We have been together every day since, and we’re never bored in each other’s company,’ Frederik explains. He proposed on New Year’s Eve, six months after their first meeting, and they married the following summer. The wedding was held on Bornholm, in the garden of Sophie’s parents’ summer cottage overlooking the Baltic Sea. The reception was carefully designed, the food, which came from the Bornholm restaurant Kadeau, was great, the speeches – their speeches to each other as well as all the other speeches – were warm, and the party lasted till dawn.
Like Sophie, Frederik is a craftsman – a woodcutting machinist, who completed his training with commendation. Before he and Sophie settled on Bornholm, he headed the carpentry company Engelbrecht Construction, which makes sets for stage and film productions, including all the sets for The Royal Danish Theatre. Remarkably, Sophie’s original plan was to become a scenographer; she chose carpentry because she had to do something while she was waiting to be accepted into the Danish National School of Performing Arts. The basic course caught her interest, and she decided to arrange an apprenticeship and become a cabinetmaker. She succeeded and received a silver medal for her final project. Before he became a woodcutting machinist, Frederik had initially tested whether he might belong in the ambitious part of the restaurant business. However, the harsh tone in the kitchen did not suit him, and instead, he took his upper secondary exam and applied to university before he realized that he preferred working with his hands, and that wood was the perfect material for him.
When 1 + 1 equals more than 2
It all began with Frederik lending Sophie a hand. They soon discovered that they worked well together, that their professional skill sets and temperaments fit like tongue in groove. ‘Well, we did need to smooth some rough edges,’ they admit, ‘but we never doubted that we can go farther together than each of us can on our own,’ they say in unison.
‘Sophie is in charge of aesthetics, both in our private life and in our business. She is good at keeping her eye on the big picture, while I’m pathologically nerdy and need everything to fit with millimetre accuracy,’ says Frederik.
‘At first, when we had just met, you told everybody I had great style, which made me embarrassed,’ says Sophie as she laughs. ‘Sophie was established; she had her own company, her own clients and a distinct signature,’ says Frederik. ‘But you can do so many things that I can’t, and you certainly have an aesthetic sense too,’ Sophie corrects him. ‘I just need to get used to saying ourwood, our tools, our workshop, but my excitement about our partnership knows no bounds.’
Michelin stars
Frederik and Sophie had not been working together long when they won a major commission. Frederik’s brother is a chef and runs Maaemo, the only restaurant in Oslo to have three stars in the Michelin Guide. In connection with an expansion of the restaurant, he was looking for new furnishings. He fell in love with what he saw in the workshop in Raadvad and encouraged Frederik and Sophie to put in a bid for the big contract.
They got the order, and the final delivery, a table measuring several metres in length, was shipped off at the same time as they were carrying wood, tools and machines out of the Raadvad workshop to sail it all to Bornholm.
Just as it has made a big difference for many other craftspeople, makers and design firms to be exposed in gourmet restaurants the world over, Sophie and Frederik expect that the exposure will benefit their company. ‘I just don’t want people to think that we got the assignment because the client is Frederik’s brother. We competed with others and won it on the merits of our design and quality,’ says Sophie.
Of course, they were picked for quality and design. They have something unique to offer. Sophie made beautiful things on her own, and together they create something that is unlike what anyone else is making. And naturally, no restaurateur worth his salt would ever place his aesthetic fate in anyone else’s hands simply because he is related to them.
That said, it is always an advantage to get the introduction. In fact, it is a condition for success to be introduced or to find someone to introduce oneself to. If the restaurateur in Oslo had not known Frederik, he would never have found his way to Raadvad.
The big decision
‘Even before I set up shop in Raadvad, I had been looking at properties on Bornholm,’ says Sophie. ‘But I’m happy I didn’t make that leap on my own.’
And you were onboard with the idea? I ask Frederik. ‘I had never dreamed of moving to Bornholm, or even of leaving Copenhagen, and in fact I had my dream job. When Sophie floated the idea, I had to make sure it wasn’t just a whim,’ he replies. ‘But after we had spent some time looking at different properties, you were actually the one who thought this looked like your dream place,’ says Sophie. ‘And by now, you’ve become such the farmer that you’ve started shopping for a tractor.’
And you don’t worry about getting lonely here in the country or the uncertainty of running your own business or, for that matter, the parental responsibilities that you’ll be facing shortly? I ask.
‘Some think it must be tough to have an unpredictable income and to move to the countryside, and some have warned us that it will be tough to have a baby. We are just excited, and we’re convinced that it will be fine. Getting up at 5 in the morning doesn’t scare me, I got up at 5 when I was an apprentice,’ says Frederik. ‘Truth be told, he is already getting up really early, even before the baby has arrived,’ Sophie adds. ‘Only, now he gets up to check on the tomato plants and to see if the chickens are loose.’
And the budget? ‘No, we’ll get commissions, it has always worked out,’ she says. ‘You worry a little more,’ she says, nodding to Frederik. ‘In fact, my main worry is that I think everything is so perfect now; I have so much to lose,’ Frederik replies.
In the meantime, the neighbour has shown up to ask if he can take the dog with him into the field.
We round off our talk, I have to be on my way, and Frederik and Sophie have to go to the sawmill to pick up wood for an order. Before I leave, they hand me a carton of eggs.
– en virkelig romantisk historie
Historien får jeg fortalt i køkkenet på den firlængede bondegård, som nu udgør Sophie og hendes mand, Frederik Roth Clemmensens, nye hjem. Vi er på Bornholm. Parret, som er henholdsvis 29 og 30 år, venter deres første barn og er flyttet hertil for få måneder siden.
De har brugt tiden effektivt, de har malet og sat i stand, ordnet hønsehus, plantet i køkkenhaven og ikke mindst etableret deres fælles snedkerværksted, Raadvad Møbelsnedkeri Bornholm, i den gamle svinestald.
“Vi mødte hinanden på en date den sommer, hvor Sophie havde skåret sig i armen, vi har været sammen hver dag siden, og vi keder os aldrig i hinandens selskab”, fortæller Frederik. Han friede nytårsaften, et halvt år efter de havde mødt hinanden, og den følgende sommer blev de gift. Brylluppet blev holdt på Bornholm i Sophies forældres sommerhushave. Festen var scenograferet ned til mindste detalje; maden, som kom fra bornholmerrestauranten Kadeau, var fantastisk, talerne var varme – både dem, de holdt for hinanden, og alle de andre – og de festede med udsigt til Østersøen til den lyse morgen.
Frederik er ligesom Sophie snedker. Han er maskinsnedker. Uddannet med udmærkelsen ros. Inden han og Sophie slog sig ned på Bornholm, arbejdede han som leder af snedkerværkstedet Engelbrecht Construction, som laver inventar og kulisser til teater- og filmbrancen. Blandt andet alle kulisser til Det Kongelige Teater.
Sjovt nok var Sophies oprindelige plan at blive scenograf, snedkerfaget valgte hun, fordi hun i sin venten på at komme ind på Statens Teaterskole måtte foretage sig et eller andet. Da grundskoleforløbet fangede hendes interesse, besluttede hun sig for at finde en læreplads og blive møbelsnedker. Det blev hun, og det med udmærkelsen sølv. Frederik havde, inden han valgte at blive maskinsnedker, først testet, om han havde hjemme i den ambitiøse del af restaurationsbranchen. Den hårde tone i køkkenet var dog ikke noget for hans gemyt, han tog studentereksamen og søgte på universitetet for derfra at indse, at han hellere ville arbejde med hænderne, og at træ var et oplagt materiale.
Når 1 + 1 er mere end 2
Det startede med, at Frederik hjalp Sophie lidt. De fandt hurtigt ud af, at de var gode til at arbejde sammen, at deres arbejdsmæssige kompetencer og temperamenter passer som not og fer. “Nuvel, vi har skullet slibe lidt kanter”, indrømmer de, “men vi har ikke på noget tidspunkt været i tvivl om, at vi kan mere sammen end hver for sig”, siger de med én stemme.
“Sophie står for æstetikken, både når det gælder vores private liv, og når det gælder vores fælles virksomhed. Hun er god til de store linjer, jeg er til gengæld sygeligt nørdet og skal have alting til at passe på millimeter”, siger Frederik.
“I starten, da vi lige havde mødt hinanden, fortalte du alle om, hvor god stil jeg havde, jeg blev helt genert”, ler Sophie. “Sophie var jo allerede etableret, havde egen virksomhed og egne kunder og en tydelig signatur”, fortæller Frederik. “Du kan til gengæld ret meget, som jeg ikke kan, og du er da absolut ikke uden æstetisk sans, tværtimod”, korrigerer Sophie, “jeg skal bare lige vænne mig til at sige vores træ, vores værktøj og vores værksted, men min glæde ved fællesskabet kender ingen grænser.”
Michelinstjerner
Frederik og Sophie havde ikke arbejdet sammen længe, da de ‘vandt’ en stor opgave. Frederiks bror er kok og står bag Oslos eneste restaurant med tre stjerner i Guide Michelin, “Maaemo”. Han var i forbindelse med en udvidelse af restauranten på udkig efter nyt inventar og forelskede sig i det, han så på værkstedet i Raadvad, og opfordrede Frederik og Sophie til at byde ind på den omfattende opgave.
De fik ordren, og sidste delleverance, et mange meter langt bord, gik af sted, samtidig med at de bar træ, værktøj og maskiner ud af værkstedet i Raadvad for at sejle det hele til Bornholm.
Ligesom det har betydet meget for en lang række andre håndværkere og kunsthåndværkere og designvirksomheder at blive eksponeret på gourmetrestauranter verden over, så regner Sophie og Frederik også med, at det får betydning for deres virksomhed. “Det må bare ikke fremstå, som om vi har fået opgaven, fordi den er stillet af Frederiks bror; vi har været i konkurrence med andre og har fået den for vores design og for vores kvalitet”, siger Sophie.
Selvfølgelig er de valgt for deres kvalitet og for deres design. De kan noget særligt, Sophie kunne noget virkelig smukt i eget regi, sammen kan de noget helt unikt og noget, som ikke ligner det, andre gør. Læg dertil, at ingen fornuftig restauratør vælger at lægge sin æstetiske skæbne i hænderne på andre, bare fordi han er i familie med dem.
Det være sagt, så er det altid en fordel at blive introduceret. Eller rettere, det er en forudsætning for at lykkes at blive introduceret eller at finde nogen, man kan introducere sig til. Hvis ikke restauratøren i Oslo havde kendt Frederik, så havde han aldrig fundet til Raadvad.
Den store beslutning
“Jeg havde allerede, inden jeg slog mig ned i Raadvad, set på ejendomme på Bornholm”, fortæller Sophie, “men jeg er glad for, at jeg ikke bandt an med det alene.”
Og du var med på ideen? spørger jeg Frederik. “Jeg havde aldrig drømt om at flytte til Bornholm, endsige drømt om at flytte fra København, og havde jo faktisk et drømmejob. Da Sophie præsenterede ideen, måtte jeg forsikre mig om, at det ikke bare var et eventyr”, siger han. “Men da vi over en periode havde set på forskelligt, var det dig, som syntes, at det her lignede dit drømmested”, siger en drillende Sophie, “og nu er du blevet så meget gårdejer, at du ser på traktor.”
I er hverken urolige for at blive ensomme her på landet eller for en usikker tilværelse som selvstændige eller for den sags skyld for forældreansvaret, som om et øjeblik melder sig? forhører jeg mig.
“Der er nogen, som synes, at det er hårdt at have usikker økonomi, hårdt at flytte på landet, og som også advarer om, at det bliver hårdt at have baby, vi glæder os bare og er sikre på, at det bliver fint. At stå op kl. 5 det kan ikke skræmme, jeg stod også op kl. 5, da jeg var i lære”, siger Frederik. “Og hvis sandheden skal frem, så står han også meget tidligt op nu, allerede inden babyen er kommet”, fortsætter Sophie, “nu er det bare for at holde øje med, hvordan det går med tomatplanterne, og for at kontrollere, om hønsene er løbet ud.”
Og økonomien? “Nej, vi skal nok få opgaver, det har altid løst sig”, fortsætter hun. “Du er lidt mere urolig”, siger hun og nikker i retning af Frederik. “Egentlig er jeg mest urolig, fordi jeg synes, at vi har det så perfekt nu, og jeg har så meget at miste”, svarer Frederik hende.
I mellemtiden er naboen kommet ind, han vil bare høre, om han må tage hunden med i marken.
Vi runder af, jeg skal videre, og Frederik og Sophie skal på savværket efter træ til en bestilling. Inden jeg kører, får jeg en bakke æg med.
Bookazine 3 med dansk tekst kan købes her
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