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Workshop Experience
Our six-week course integrates education and business in a supportive workshop environment, where participants work on commercial-style projects in our professionally-equipped Wood School. This programme emphasises skill-building through repetition in low-volume batch production, allowing learners to gain hands-on experience without design constraints. Through varied projects, participants develop practical skills, technical proficiency, and experience professional standards essential for the heritage woodworking and furniture making sector.
Participants leave with a foundation in technical skills, machine training, practical experience, and confidence to pursue employment or further education in the industry. We encourage interested individuals to visit the Sylva Wood Centre to explore our facilities and meet the team.
Sylva Summer School
Our Summer School, part of the Woodworking and Gender project, is designed to foster gender diversity and inclusion in the heritage woodworking and furniture sector. This week-long programme welcomes early-career designers and makers who identify as female, trans or non-binary, offering a unique opportunity to develop skills and connect with like-minded creatives.
Held at the Sylva Wood Centre, the Summer School provides access to professional workshops, expert guidance, and immersion in a supportive, sustainability-focused community. Participants work on project briefs, explore underutilised timbers, and engage in hands-on learning, all while aligning with the environmental principles of Sylva Foundation.
We invite applicants who have some woodworking experience, an eagerness to learn, and the availability to attend the full week in September.
Mentoring for Makers
Our Role Model Programme is an initiative designed to connect aspiring craftspeople, woodworkers and furniture makers from marginalised genders—women, trans, and non-binary makers—with mentors who have a wealth of experience and diverse insights. This programme aims to empower a new generation of craftspeople, giving them a “leg-up”, by creating supportive relationships where mentors share their journeys, skills, and expertise.
If you are interested in receiving mentorship, or if you’re an experienced professional willing to support or mentor someone, we would love to hear from you. Together, we create a more inclusive, inspiring future for the woodworking and furniture making industries.
“In an industry that is very male-dominated, it was a very special and refreshing experience to join an accessible training opportunity for early- career creatives from marginalised gender identities.”
The Woodworking and Gender project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Conran Foundation, The Mila Charitable Trust, Benchmark Furniture Ltd, Vastern Timber Ltd. Thanks to their generous support and National Lottery players, together we will ensure future generations of skilled and resilient women and non-binary woodworkers are able to support the woodworking heritage of this country for years to come.