The Centre for Fine Woodworking takes pride in carrying on the traditions of fine woodworking by offering the highest quality of tuition available. The school hosts some of the world’s most respected tutors and practitioners of the craft of woodworking.

Our tight-knit woodworking community reaches across Aotearoa/New Zealand as well as overseas and includes woodworking hobbyists, young trainees, people seeking a new career working in woodworking, and professional woodworkers.  

It is our aspiration to encourage and teach any student who has the interest and commitment to learn the design and craft of fine woodworking, and the perseverance to keep learning and perfecting their skills and abilities.

We know that financial considerations may curtail enrolments to our classes. So, for us to achieve our goal of making our classes accessible, we have this Scholarship Programme.

Please note: Scholarships are only available to Citizens or Permanent Residents of New Zealand, and cover course fees only. Travel and accommodation will be the responsibility of the student. Only one scholarship per student per year.

We have a goal of offering 4 Scholarships places a year for the course “Introduction to Fine Woodworking” taught by Lou Fuller.

If you would like to help us achieve our financial goal in making this scholarships programme successful, please get in touch to donate.

We are proud to honour this tradition originally created by Thorkild Hansen to preserve and pass on the time-honoured craft of fine woodworking to future generations. Thorkild’s wish was to see those that might not have had the opportunity to learn these skills receive a change through a scholarship.

CFW’s Scholarship Programme

All of our students have at least one thing in common. A fascination and love of woodworking. We want to encourage that and enable passionate people to do more of what they love, without suffering financial hardship.  

Criteria for the CFW Scholarship: :

• A Permanent Resident of New Zealand

• A passion and commitment to excellence

• A dedication to learning and upskilling

• Availability for our Scholarship course: Introduction to Fine Woodworking Nov 3, 2025 – Nov 14, 2025

Selection process is based on:

• Pictures of any previous creative projects. Up to 4.

• A statement of your personal experience in woodworking, or working with your hands, what it means to you, and which skills you’d like to work on given a chance.

• A cover letter and a letter of support endorsing your application.

Note: Scholarship spaces are contingent on donations. We have no spaces available at this time. You are welcome to submit an application and we’ll let you know when a scholarship comes available.

Please check back here for updates to available scholarships, or get in touch.