Welcome to the website of Albert Jan Rouwkema.

Ever since my childhood I have had a strong affinity with wood and I learned woodturning at a young age. During my education as an arts & crafts teacher my sense of art and design was further developed.
In 1996 I took a woodturning course with Jamie Walwin in England to refine my technique, followed by a course on eccentric turning with Jean-François Escoulen in Meppen, Germany in 2009.

Now the twisted forms are often a part of the objects and figures that I make.
Wood fascinates me because of the structures, the beautiful deformations, the regularity in the growth rings and the wildness of the warts (burr).
I almost exclusively use European wood and apply environmentally friendly means for finishing.

The inspiration for my designs comes from natural and mathematical forms.
I often work thematically, where wood is combined with other materials (brass, spring steel, perspex, glass) and other techniques, such as milling and bending of wood, that give a dynamic aspect to the object. Still, wood remains the main component of my work.

In 2006 I won silver in the professionals section in a global competition in England with “Caribbean dancers”.
As of 2007 I am registered as an artist at the CBK Groningen.
American Woodturner magazine published a selection of my work in the Members Gallery in their August / September 2016 issue.
The magazine De Vlaamse Houtdraaier, 4th quarter of 2016, dedicated several pages to my work.

The art lies in intertwining art with your life and thus creating your own place in this world. © AJR