Timber framers, engineers, designers, and homeowners will congregate in Saratoga Springs for the Timber Framers Guild 31st Annual Conference in September. The conference will be from Sept. 16 through 18 with an additional day of pre-conference seminars.
The Conference follows a 10-day Community Building Project to hand-raise the frame of the Champlain Canal Region Gateway Visitors’ Center in Schuylerville.
For more than 30 years, Timber Framers Guild conferences have been bringing together the timber framing community from across North America and as far away as Australia, Denmark, England, France, Germany and Japan. Each year, timber frame craftsmen, contractors, and suppliers come together to be energized, renewed, and to learn more about perfecting our craft and building better timber frames.
“The conference will mark thirty-one years of heritage, history, and shared learning experiences from the best the industry has to offer,” said Jeff Arvin, Timber Framers Guild Executive Director.
The overall mission of the conference is to provide a dramatic and powerful statement of learning and inspiration to all the timber framing community. Attendees will have the opportunity to develop skills for creating timber frames and to learn about the most recent envelope technology, industry products, and business fundamentals.
Speakers include:
John Stevens – Author of Dutch Vernacular Architecture
Patrick Moore – The first North and South American Compagnon Passant Charpentier.
William Bryant Logan – Author of Oak, Air, and Dirt
Jan Lewandowski – Chinese Joinery
Jack Sobon – author of Build a Classic Timber Frame House Planning & Design/Traditional Materials/Affordable Methods
Steve Lawrence – Tips & Tricks for Project Management
Will Beemer –Author and Owner of Heartwood School
Duke Kuehn – Business Strategies & Leadership Myths
Kevin Ireton Editor at Large – Fine Homebuilding Magazine with a focus on an extended vision of craft
Rudy Christian, executive director of the Preservation Trades Network
“To be relevant, timber framers must stay on top of the built environment. To be happy, we need a good party. The conference will offer you both,” stated Jonathan Orpin, TFG board member.
To join the conference or for more information, call 360-746-6571 or e-mail info@tfguild.org.
The Timber Framers Guild is a nonprofit organized exclusively for educational purposes to provide training programs for timber framers, disseminate information about timber framing to the public, and serve as a general center of timber framing information for the professional and general public alike. Through the Guild’s community building projects, more than seventy-five heavy timber structures have been raised since 1985.