Restoration of old buildings using traditional working techniques and -materials was my first full-time job and mission at the same time when I started to work in the Estonian Open-Air Museum in Tallinn. Studying the same time history at Tartu University as a student, that work was also like a mission for me. Mission to help to keep our Estonian national building heritage alive. It was transmission time from the soviet regime to our independent republic, and all needs to change, and we need to change it all by ourselves. Organizing processes and doing jobs also by myself at the same time as cutting reed and logs in our harsh wintertime, collecting moss, birchbark and preparing switches in spring and early summertime and building our traditional roofs like thatch roofs and wooden roofs and fixing log constructions in summertime, it was my task of those times. We needed to find knowledge from old master builders with traditional building crafts and to convince them to teach us, young men. It was so lovely that those talented masters we found still alive they all agreed to give their knowledge very kindly. It looked like they were also waiting for that call and were happy.
Today, I’m working in the Information Center for Sustainable Renovation NGO as a member of the board and project leader for several modern themes we are realizing via projects. Working with themes as “Energy efficiency in historical houses”, “Smart historical houses”, “Reuse, and new use of traditional building materials in old and modern buildings”, “Heritage and local community”, “Heritage and ecological point of view”, etc. Also, I organise different events, courses, lectures, festivals, conferences, and seminars on various historical, ecological, and economic topics. I’m also involved in projects mixing modern environmental materials such as clay paint and hemp fibre isolation with healthy living interiors and historical houses.
In good modern public living space, there is an essential part for our historical buildings, and it is very clever to not only keep them but also to raise their antique, social, ecological, and practical value as much as it is reasonable.
Membership in organizations:
2001 to the present Estonian Heritage Society, board member,
2022 to the current member of Icomos Estonia.
Publications (books)
2003 “Ilus vana maja” (“Beautiful Old House”)
2005 “Looduslikud värvid ehituses” (Natural paints in buildings.)
2006 “Kodu vanas majas” (“Home in old house”) 2008
2012 “Vana maamaja. Käsiraamat” (“Old country house. Handbook”) articles 2012