The principal mission of Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre is to combine traditional carpentry with innovative solutions.
As such the Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre becomes an exciting place full of being and events, which would benefit local timber production, inspire younger and older designers and carpenters from Estonia and elsewhere. As such Avinurme becomes a meeting place for visitors from near and far in order to see and partake in Estonian carpentry tradition in its most authentic and immediate form. For Estonians a trip to Avinurme is familiar, many value the tradition Avinurme barrel markets and fairs. The Cultural Heritage Centre would give reasons to visit Avinurme throughout the year.
Regional traditions and enterprise, local and international know-how and creative potential lay a foundation to this true incubator of creative economy in order to turn one of the greatest national values of Estonia – the forest – and timber production thereof into an Estonian brand. The workshops and learning programs of the Centre become experimental laboratories where innovative carpentry and domestic craft solutions and skills are developed, tested nurtured and taught. SA Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre would be an institution bringing together manufacturers, designers, masters, education centres and other interested parties. The keywords of the Centre are innovation, inter-field cooperation, or synergy (carpentry and folklore), historical know-how and the coherence of new technologies. Hereby, the Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre is also a meeting place of carpenters and designers, a favourite place of artists and makers of wooden sculptures to reside in Scandinavia and in the Baltic States.
Carpentry as a way of life is manifested in the capability of the people of Avinurme to move on and develop together with the technology and market thereof. Carpentry of Avinurme as an incubator has throughout the times aided the development of new and competitive carpentry and handicraft produce. This has been possible due to the spiritual heritage and know-how kept alive amongst the regional masters. Competition in the community has always been based on a unique cooperation between craftsmen (including masters, traders). This provides for opportunities to be competitive in the market of carpentry and handicraft with the design that is more and more based on innovativeness. Today’s timber manufacturers, whether a large producer or small-size company, need brands, ideas, originality, naturalness and closeness to nature in order to achieve success in creative economy. The ambition of Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre is no less than that.
Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre aims at turning Avinurme from an undiscovered treasure into a place that is known and visited every so often. This is possible only being aware of the strengths, which is case of Avinurme are untouched nature and historical experience with keeping and carrying on the traditions of carpentry.
