Jaspa Joinery

Jan Spanka created Jaspa Joinery in 2007, for the purpose of combining Tasmanian timbers and European craftsmanship. Born in Germany in 1978, Jan learned the trade of Cabinet Maker – Joiner, taking a special interest in traditional techniques and hard timbers, and working on staircases and other highly detailed work. Later on, Jan studied industrial design at Burg Giebichenstein university. Previously isolated from western influence behind the Iron Curtain, Burg Giebichenstein prided itself on its purist approach to modernist art, and studying there was a deeply formative, even transformational experience for Jan.

Jan visited Tasmania while on a working holiday in Australia, and met his wife Emily here. Emily and Jan have two sons and a daughter, and live very happily in a house they built at Sheffield on Tasmania’s north - west coast. The rest, as they say is history.

While Jan continues to service his small rural community with affordable kitchen and bathroom builds and renovations, there is growing interest in his bespoke furniture work from further afield.