SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After sweeping the territorial skills competition in Yellowknife, cabinet maker Robbie Warren came home with a silver medal in his trade from the nationals last month.

Yellowknife cabinet maker Robbie Warren stands with the award-winning project he completed at the National Skills Canada Competition late last month. - Meagan Leonard/NNSL photo

The Skills Canada National Competition was held May 27 to 29 in Saskatoon and is an Olympic-style trade and technology event for students and apprentices across the country.

Warren had 13 hours over two days to create a wood bench seat, which he said was a little daunting.

"I was competing against seven other (carpenters) and they were all number one from their province," he said.

"They had the competition in the convention centre so you were out in the open and there were people walking by constantly and they would stop and stare for ridiculous amounts of time."

Not to mention, he didn't know what he would be building until he got there.

"You don't know the project you're going to have to do until you get there," he explained. "You attend an orientation, then they go over everything – they show you the project and give you the blueprints."

Warren said he owes a lot to his employer Roger Nendsa, who taught him many of the new skills necessary for the competition – which differ significantly from what he is used to doing on a daily basis building custom kitchens in Yellowknife.

"At the competition I had to build a piece of furniture," he said. "Which to me is really a dying trade now. I had to use pretty different skills, more older techniques of building and hand tools rather than machinery."

After moving to the territory from Fenelon Falls, Ont., in 2013, Warren said cabinet making was just "something to do."

He now is a first-year apprentice at Ideal Woodwork in Yellowknife.

"I finished high school and just sat around for a bit through the summer and decided it was time to find a job," he shrugged. "This is what I ended up doing and I've been doing it ever since."

When asked about plans for the future, Warren is nonchalant – saying simply he plans to just keep doing what he's doing.

However, at the mention of next year's skill's competition, his eyes light up.

"Oh for sure I'll go back next year – and push harder," he said with a laugh. "It will be completely different – it changes every year."

Won gold in April

Warren won gold in the territorial skills competition in April, which qualified him to move on to the Nationals. While in Saskatoon he also scooped up the Best in Region honour for scoring the highest out of all the participants from the NWT.

Since the competition, he said he has had a number of offers from friends and family to buy the award-winning bench, but he doesn't want to part with it just yet.

"I've put so much work into it I can't sell it," he said. "I'm going to display it in my hallway at home."

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