Making Things Right: The Simple Philosophy of a Working Life - Softcover

Thorstensen, Ole

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143130943 ISBN 13: 9780143130949

Verlag: Penguin Books, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

A celebration of craftsmanship, teamwork, and the relationship between contractor and client.

"An enriching and poetic tribute to manual labour."—Karl Ove Knausgaard

 Making Things Right is the simple yet captivating story of a loft renovation, from the moment master carpenter and contractor Ole Thorstensen submits an estimate for the job to when the space is ready for occupation. As the project unfolds, we see the construction through Ole’s eyes: the meticulous detail, the pesky splinters, the problem solving, patience, and teamwork required for its completion. Yet Ole’s narrative encompasses more than just the fine mechanics of his craft. His labor and passion drive him toward deeper reflections on the nature of work, the academy versus the trades, identity, and life itself.
 
Rich with descriptions of carpentry and process, Making Things Right is a warm and humorous portrayal of a tightknit working community, a story about the blood, sweat, and frustration involved in doing a job well and the joys in seeing a vision take shape.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ole Thorstensen was born in Arendal, Norway but was raised on Tromøy, an island with five thousand inhabitants. He is a trained carpenter and has worked for twenty-five years in the construction industry. He now lives in Eidsvoll, six miles north of Oslo. He makes his debut with a story about work and identity in a tribute to manual labor.

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1

I work with wood. Having been a certified apprentice, I am now a qualified master craftsman, what most people refer to as a carpenter.

    I learned the trade as an apprentice, and as a master I learned how to run a business. For me the craftsmanship, the work itself, is more meaningful than the management side; therefore my certificate of apprenticeship is more important to me.

    There is nothing mysterious about skilled manual labor. My job is done to order and is wholly dependent upon demand, upon the instruction of others.

    I am a contractor, an entrepreneur, and a businessman. These are the words used to describe what I do. I am a carpenter, this is the word I use, and I run a one-man carpentry firm.

    The smaller firms in the building trade carry out what can be termed minor jobs, the larger companies are not that interested in those types of contracts. They are busy building whole new housing developments, hospitals, schools, sometimes a kindergarten and smaller commercial premises.

    The smaller contractors put in new bathrooms, one by one; they replace windows in houses, and erect garages. They also build a lot of new houses, as well as the board and pole for the mailbox outside. A large amount of the maintenance and modernization of the almost two and a half million residences in Norway is carried out by smaller contractors.

    There are a lot of us and we are to be found everywhere, so it goes without saying we are a diverse group. We are part of the same industry, we are tradesmen, and the fact that we approach our jobs in different ways is something tradesmen know better than anyone. We are fast, slow, good, bad, grumpy, happy, cheap, expensive, honest, and some of us are dishonest. All descriptions are relevant to the trade, with craftsmanship and its application.

    I live in T¿yen in Oslo and work for the most part in the city, chiefly on the east side. Sometimes I work on the west side, and I have had jobs in places as far south of the city as Ski and �s, and as far west as Asker. Not being native to Oslo, I have got to know the city through my job. When I am walking around the city with other people I can sometimes come to a halt, point, and say, I replaced a door in that place, I converted an attic in there, I renovated a bathroom in that house. For a man with no sense of direction it is a handy way to get to know the city, because I never forget a job I have done.

    I have no employees, no office or premises of my own. My tools are kept in the storeroom of my flat, along with equipment and materials that cannot withstand frost, cannot be outside, such as glue and the like. Screws, nails, and all sorts of other things are up in the attic. My tools are an extension of me; by treating them with care I show the respect I have for the profession, the work, and for myself.

    I park my vehicle, a slightly run-down panel van, wherever I find a spot for it in the streets around where I live. Every day after work I carry all my equipment up to my flat. Leaving tools lying in plain sight is not a good idea. Should anyone look through the windows they will see that the van is empty and there is no point in breaking in.

    My flat is on the third floor, which entails lugging stuff up and down. I have become better at planning what is required for each job and now I take only what I need to when loading the van, saving time and avoiding too much back and forth.

    My living room doubles as an office. The flat is not big, so I put any files and paperwork in a closed cabinet to keep them out of sight. Administrative work has to be done, but having the office at home like this can be tiresome. It feels as if I am always carrying a heavy rucksack, even after the trek is over. I never quite make it to a point where I can rest, take a break, and turn around to look back over the landscape I have passed through. When I have finished the work, the actual building, I have to open the cabinet, take out the relevant file, boot up the computer and pay VAT, write e-mails, archive documents, fill out forms, and calculate tenders. The hours I spend on this feel long, much longer than the hours I spend with materials and tools.

    My company is a one-man business and there is no clear distinction between my private and professional life. I am in physical contact with the tools and materials I use and am likewise bound to the finances and consequences of my labor. There is a close connection between me and my drill, my van, the floor I am laying, the house I am building, and also the balance sheet.

    At times this can feel overwhelming, but not simply in a negative way. It gives me a strong sense of my work not only being of great significance to the clients who ask me to renovate their homes but to me too. Financially and professionally, I am exposed, devoid of the protection most people take for granted in their everyday working lives.

    I make a living from producing transient objects that can be replaced and demolished. That is also a part of my profession. The things we surround ourselves with are crucial to our lives, and at the same time are unimportant, and that is the reason we can say that it went well, no lives were lost when the cathedral burned down.

    The job I am currently doing in KjelsŒs is nearing an end; in another three weeks I will be looking at blank pages in my appointment book. This is how it always is; I go to work and make something, while at the same time I keep an eye out for the next job.





2

i am sitting in the living room at home. captain Beefheart is playing on the stereo, and outside it is a cold, wet November evening. I was out late last night, so it feels fitting when the Captain sings: "I went around all day with the moon sticking in my eye." It is good music to wash up to so I make a start on that, but I'm interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. A number I do not recognize.

    "Hello?"

    "Hi. My name's Jon Petersen, I got your number from Helene Karlsen."

    "Ah, Helene and the boys, in Torshov. It's about some building work, then?"

    Helene and the boys were a family I did a loft conversion for a couple of years ago. It was a nice job for a pleasant family. Helene had a husband, and two sons, thus Helene and the boys, as in the French sitcom popular in the 1990s. That was what I called them, and they thought it was funny, I think, but now it crosses my mind that of course Jon Petersen does not know anything about that.

    "Yes, we live in Torshov and have a loft we're also planning to convert, so we're looking around for a contractor who could do a good job. There are a lot of cowboys out there," he says, with an implicit tone to his voice.

    "We want to use proper tradesmen, so when Helene told us how happy they were with the job you'd done and recommended you . . ."

    Jon tells me a little...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0143130943
• ISBN 13: 9780143130949
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 240
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar