Nikolai Kozak

About
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Multidisciplinary artist and wooden boatbuilder, 
interested in memory and interfaces.

Former partner at 
Bede-Fazekas & Kozak in Budapest, Hungary

Currently attending ITP @ NYU.

Wooden Boatbuilding & Restoration
IYRS - Rhode Island

I was incredibly fortunate in being able to attend the Wooden Boatbuilding and Restoration program at IYRS in Rhode Island during 2023 and 2024. While there I also received my ACMA Composites Technician ceritifications.

In teams of two to three people, we fully restored (meaning built back every single piece) of a 13’ Beetlecat using traditional boatbuilding and woodworking techniques.
Boatbuilding is often considered the hardest form of woodworking given the pervasive lack of right angles and organic shapes everywhere. As well, the wood has to be bent and coerced into shape using steaming, carving, and fitting techniques that demand a significant level of skill. 

At the end of the program, the boats are sailed (graduation day is the first day the boats are put into the water), and then sold to the highest bidder ino order to finance material costs for the incoming years.