10/06/2026
In the summer of 2024, a new Faroese boat was built at the Viking Ship Museum’s boatyard, a so-called Tíggjumannafar. Translated directly from Faroese into English, it means “ten-man boat”: tíggju = ten, mann(a) = men/persons, far = vessel/boat (something one travels in).
At the time, Oscar Kjær La Pia was an apprentice at the Viking Ship Museum’s boatyard, working side by side with the boatbuilders Hanus Jensen and Pernille Rosendahl to learn the traditional craft completely from the ground up.
Hanus is a Faroese boatbuilder, and he introduced Oscar to the strong traditions of Faroese boatbuilding. In the same way, Hanus had passed this knowledge on to Pernille when she was an apprentice at the boatyard 25 years ago.
Together, over the course of the summer, they built the boat according to old Faroese craft traditions, where construction is done by eye, without templates, and guided by experience handed down from master to apprentice through generations. The result is a strong and stable boat, built of wood and tradition, which is now used by schoolchildren on Roskilde Fjord.
Since then, Oscar has completed his apprenticeship, and last week he was honored with the DI Roskilde/Køge Bay Apprentice Award 2026 for his craftsmanship and his contribution to the community.
“When I started my apprenticeship, I of course brought with me a desire to learn—and a strong motivation to develop. But what I didn’t know was how much the craft, the sense of community, and the people around me would come to mean,” Oscar said in his acceptance speech.
This film offers a small glimpse into a profession where knowledge is created both with the hands and the mind.