Gram Kayak is my hobby and solo project where I build paddles based on centuries-old Greenlandic principles.

From generation to generation, the Greenlandic paddle has been developed, refined and adapted to bring its oarsman quickly and silently through all kinds of weather with minimal effort and precious human energy. I never cease to be amazed that such a simple, handmade tool can do so much. That’s the legacy of craftsmanship that I want to carry on.

Today we have access to all kinds of wood, glue and tools, and it is possible to make paddles in all shapes and sizes, adapted to the physical needs and aesthetic sense of the individual rower.

I myself have respect for traditional ways and techniques of creating a paddle. Originally, the Norse made the paddle from the timber that washed ashore, which influenced the design of the paddle.

Access to tools also limited creativity. In turn, the lack of tools was replaced by time and dexterity, which is why today you can experience beautiful old crafts in museums that are rooted in Greenland’s millennia-old hunter culture.

I don’t care much for noisy factories and soaring chimneys. That’s why all my paddles are made in my own workshop, where I never stop playing with the wood and experimenting with its possibilities. Here I only use my hands and simple tools to make paddles. Paddles that are all unique and will eventually tell their own stories in the hands of their rowers.