As a furniture maker, Hans Dankers draws on skills developed as a child growing up in the Netherlands, as an oriental carpet dealer in Afghanistan, and as an automation engineer in the U.S.
Today he lives in Portland, Oregon, where he and his wife raised two beautiful daughters and now have a wonderful grandson, too.
Buying Oriental Carpets in Afghanistan
When he was in his 20s, Hans joined his father in a wholesale oriental carpet business called Carpet Centre Afghanistan. Because of his innate mechanical ability, Hans moved to Kabul to design, build and manage the first carpet washing factory in Afghanistan.
One night in December, he attended a “Happy Hour” at the home of the American Marines. There he met Clarice, a Peace Corps Volunteer from the United States. Ten months later they were married by a quartet of Afghan mullahs and an Italian priest named Father Panegoti.
Designing Automation Projects in the U.S.
When the communist coup took place the following year, the couple moved to the United States. Hans’s eye for detail, hand dexterity, creative imagination, and photographic memory soon led to a career in robotics and factory automation.
His ability to conceive innovative solutions to complex problems—and his skill with tools—enabled him to both design and build sophisticated automated machines.
Turning to Furniture Making
A few years ago, Hans discovered woodworking and cabinet making, and he quickly left steel behind! He loves the feel and smell of wood as well as the satisfaction of turning it into beautiful, artistic, functional pieces of furniture.
In the process, Hans has found that the artistic skills he developed while working with oriental carpets and the mechanical and engineering skills he developed as an automation engineer now serve him well as a furniture maker.