Photo Guy Ackermans Who: Jeroen de Klein (64)
What: making furniture
Why: making furniture is technically and creatively challenging
Earnings: about 300 euros a month, working two to three days a week
It’s not just students who have side gigs; WUR employees do it too. When he’s not teaching Water Quality, Jeroen de Klein (64) can be found in his carpentry workshop. He spends two to three days a week making furniture.
‘I have been teaching at WUR since 1995. Alongside that, my partner and I have been running our furniture workshop Het Verschil (The Difference) since 1999. My girlfriend went to art school and mostly does the designing and painting. After graduating, I worked in interior design for a year. But I felt I was not doing enough with my seven years of studying Environmental Health. After all, society had invested in me. So, after working for a water board and a consultancy firm, I ended up at WUR, where I got my PhD during my first few years of teaching. But I was always interested and felt the need to work with my hands. Making furniture is technically and creatively challenging, in a totally different way from my job. Every piece of furniture I make is unique. I have made measuring equipment for research purposes too, like a floating measuring chamber for greenhouse gases from rivers. Our chair group’s coffee room has furniture I made too. It started as a cost-covering hobby but now we earn a bit from it.
The first thing I ask potential customers is: ‘Have you already been to Ikea?’ Because I can’t even buy my wood for Ikea’s retail prices. But if they want something special, they’ve come to the right place. And everything has to be right, details are very important. We make proposals for the design and materials.
Making furniture is technically and creatively challenging, in a totally different way from my job
I have a preference for sleek designs with a wood component. It can take several months before it’s finished. I see our low hourly rate as compensation for the longer delivery time. When I get photos of their furniture from satisfied customers, it gives me that feeling of “Woohoo! We’ve done it again!” A product that makes someone happy and that they use daily. I hope to go on doing this into my 80s.
