Jurva School

Non-profit association which maintains, develops, and promotes Jurva's regional expertise in the fields of design, crafts, arts, woodcarving and furniture industry.

Jurva School

Non-profit association which maintains, develops, and promotes Jurva's regional expertise in the fields of design, crafts, arts, woodcarving and furniture industry.

Jurvan koulukunta – Jurva School ry is a non-profit association which was founded 2013 in a small village called Jurva, which is located in the area of South Ostrobotnia in Western Finland. Jurva School is a school of thought.

Many of the members of our association are professionals in the fields of Design, Arts, Crafts and Furniture Industry. Most of our members have either studied or educated the students in the schools of Jurva. In the schools that doesn’t exist anymore.

Our purpose

The purpose of our association is to maintain, develop and promote Jurva’s regional expertise in the fields of design, crafts, arts, woodcarving and furniture and housing industries. And to pass on these skills to the younger generations.  design, crafts, arts, woodcarving and furniture industry.

Background

Jurva is a small village located in the town of Kurikka, province of Western Finland, Southern Ostrobothnia region. Jurva has a history of 200 years in furniture making and over 100 years in training in the fields of furniture making and decorative woodcarving.

Unfortunately, the training and education in these, and some other fields as design, was discontinued in the region. There are still numerous furniture factories and cabinet makers in Jurva but their number is also declining.

Jurva School was founded to preserve and foster these traditions and to secure their future.

Our visions

1 | Establish an international multidisciplinary design centre where Jurva’s 100 years of history and traditions will be carried on and new exciting concepts in the fields of design, arts and crafts will be created.

2 | Our goal, as an independent training institute “Jurva Design Academy”, is to offer programmes based on modular courses on product design, crafts, interior design, woodwork and other fields of our expertise.

3 | We are going to organise year-round multidisciplinary residencies for Finnish and international artists, designers and other experts in Jurva Residence.

4 | Our aim is to set up ”Jurva Design Agency” for marketing and branding the regional know-how and to promote experts and operators from chosen industries.

5 | We are aiming to grow and become a significant, regional, internationally connected operator in our sector.

6 | Our vision is to operate as a community for former Jurva students with a background in cabinet making, decorative woodcarving, design, arts and crafts.