KursWerkstatt München is a studio for woodworking and leatherworking workshops at Haager Straße 9, right next to Munich East station (Ostbahnhof). Guided by experienced cabinetmakers and leather craftspeople, you learn to make your own pieces using hand tools and machines.
Make it yourself.
Our workshops are for anyone who loves working with their hands and wants to create something of their own. Whether you are picking up a hand plane for the first time, want to turn creative ideas into wood or leather, or already have experience and want to refine your technique or learn traditional craft methods, you will find the right workshop with us.
Anyone who spends their working day at a screen, with plans and calculations, and is looking for a counterbalance is especially welcome. Here you create something you can hold in your hands: a stool, a Japanese wood joint, a hand-stitched belt.
The studio
You work in bright, fully equipped workshop rooms: two bench rooms with workbenches and a machine room with sliding table saws and band saws. On top of that, there are high-quality hand tools for every step of the work.
Groups are small, with no more than ten participants per workshop, or six in our one-week intensive workshop. That leaves time for every question and every move.
Workshops are taught in German, but all of our instructors speak English well. International participants are always welcome.
Our story
The founding years: 1992 to 2012
In 1992, Roland Heilmann founded the KursWerkstatt in Munich. A trained furniture maker who had gone on to study social education with a focus on adult learning, he combined both into one idea: teaching people without a craft background to build solid furniture in a short time. In his studio near the Ostbahnhof, hobby woodworkers and students worked on the same machines found in professional woodshops.
One workshop project became a classic: the KursWerkstatt stool with a drawer made of alder. By Heilmann's own estimate, around 2,000 participants have built it.
The DICTUM years: 2012 to 2026
In 2012, DICTUM, the specialist for high-quality tools from Lower Bavaria, took over the studio. As the DICTUM Kurswerkstatt on Haager Straße, the program grew: Japanese woodworking, kumiko, sharpening workshops and leatherwork were added to the furniture-making workshops. The KursWerkstatt stool stayed in the program.
Now it's our turn
The next chapter begins in January 2027. KursWerkstatt München GmbH continues the studio on Haager Straße, with its equipment, proven workshops and familiar instructors such as Peter Lanz. Our focus is on wood and leather.
Our aim is the same as in 1992: to teach craftsmanship in small groups so that every workshop ends with a piece you can be proud of. For anyone who plans, calculates and designs for a living, there is no better balance. Make it yourself.
Our instructors
Peter Lanz
Peter Lanz is the studio manager of KursWerkstatt and a trained cabinetmaker. He has worked as a stage set builder and art furniture maker. For more than 15 years he has been teaching workshops in woodworking, sharpening and leatherwork, as well as project workshops such as jewelry boxes and three-legged stools.
His particular passion is working with hand tools and Japanese craftsmanship. Peter is very well connected in the industry: he is in contact with makers of high-quality tools such as Thomas Lie-Nielsen of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and with internationally renowned woodworkers such as Tom Fidgen, Christopher Schwarz and Mary May.
He brings this experience and exchange into his workshops.
Hauke Schmidt
Hauke Schmidt is a master cabinetmaker who lives and works in Cologne. He builds furniture to his own designs and teaches solid-wood work, from hobby workshops to master craftsman school for cabinetmakers. For him, teaching and learning go hand in hand, and every now and then he turns roof battens into art.
With us, he teaches the Kumiko and Japanese Sliding Door workshops.
Melanie Kirchlechner
Melanie Kirchlechner is a cabinetmaker, restorer and sculptor. She cares deeply about a free and open approach to wood as a material and encourages her participants to turn their own ideas into wood. As a trade author, she regularly offers insights into her work.
Katja Dapous
Internationally active master cabinetmaker Katja Dapous has an exceptional profile in surface finishing and restoration. Her career began in workshops in Munich and Berlin; in Munich she also worked at Steinway & Sons.
She gained international experience early on through trade fair work in Tokyo, and later through formative years in Glasgow and Oxford, where she taught furniture making and restoration. In London she headed the restoration department of Steinway & Sons and worked for international clients, including at the Sultan of Oman's palace. Projects such as building traditional dugout canoes in Mozambique also reflect her versatility as a craftsperson.
She combines the highest level of craftsmanship with many years of teaching experience and meets learners with patience, respect and joy in working together.
How to find us
KursWerkstatt München GmbH
Haager Straße 9, 4th floor
81671 Munich, Germany
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Plan your route in Google Maps
By public transit: The studio is right next to Munich East station (München Ostbahnhof). Coming by subway (U-Bahn), S-Bahn or streetcar, walk through the underpass beneath the station to the Friedenstraße exit.
By car: Free parking spaces are reserved for our participants in the adjacent parking garage, on the top level D.
Lunch nearby
During the lunch break we often go together to the Wirtshaus Zum Brünnstein at Elsässer Straße 36, a traditional Bavarian inn just a few minutes' walk away by the Ostbahnhof.
If you prefer to bring your own, there is a Rewe supermarket less than a ten-minute walk away. The neighboring Werksviertel also has plenty of restaurants and food stands, for example Khanittha at Atelierstraße 14, serving authentic Thai food.
Where to stay nearby
Traveling from further away? These hotels are located around the Ostbahnhof, close to the studio.
In the Werksviertel
Adina Apartment Hotel Munich
Munich's tallest hotel, with views across the city to the Alps, a pool and studios with their own kitchen.
Atelierstraße 22, 81671 Munich
Phone: +49 89 25555190
adinahotels.com/en/apartments/munich
Moxy Munich Ostbahnhof
Lifestyle hotel with a bar, right in the Werksviertel.
Grafinger Straße 7, 81671 Munich
Phone: +49 89 904210600
marriott.com/hotels/mucoe-moxy-munich-ostbahnhof
gambino hotel WERKSVIERTEL
Modern industrial-style hotel with compact rooms, some overlooking the Ferris wheel.
Atelierstraße 7, 81671 Munich
Phone: +49 89 998280611
gambinohotelwerksviertel.com
Residence Inn by Marriott Munich Ostbahnhof
Studios with kitchen, breakfast included.
Grafinger Straße 5, 81671 Munich
Phone: +49 89 904210500
marriott.com/hotels/mucmr-residence-inn-munich-ostbahnhof
In Haidhausen
Courtyard by Marriott Munich City East
Modern hotel, a few minutes' walk from the Ostbahnhof.
Orleansstraße 81–83, 81667 Munich
Phone: +49 89 5589190
marriott.com/hotels/mucor-courtyard-munich-city-east