“THE TREE’S LIFE IS OVER, RIGHT, SO WHEN IT’S CUT DOWN, IT BECOME WOOD. BUT AFTER BECOMING WOOD, WHEN IT BECOME AN OBJECT, THEN IT CAN BEGIN IN THE SECOND LIFE, OF USE.”
MORITO EBINE
The raw material that is chosen to work with brings with it much of what is intended, from the plastic and functional result immediately related to the final product, to the less direct intentions associated with larger issues concerning the product's relationship with society and its environment.
Wood brings with it peculiar characteristics that give it a great advantage over other materials, firstly due to its status as an absolutely renewable resource, as long as it is exploited in a sustainable way, guaranteeing the survival and flourishing of native forests with the most different types of vegetation around. of the world. Secondly, we can mention the variety of species, with their colors, textures, smells, densities, flavors, full dishes for the inspired creator. In third place comes the workability of wood, which brings countless possibilities and lends itself with the same mastery to the construction of buildings, bridges, boats, musical instruments, pieces of furniture, sculptures, engravings, toys, games, etc.
And beyond everything we can attribute to this rich and complex material, nature still opens up to us, with its limitless generosity, the possibility of rescuing lost values of mutual human/environment cooperation, of encouraging conscious production and consumption. of durable, non-toxic and biodegradable goods and the work of the craftsman who handles wood with love and sympathy.
Work done with your hands stimulates mental work, or as Richard Sennett would say, “doing is thinking”. Imbued with this premise, the craftsmen gathered here learned, over the years spent in direct contact with the raw material of their choice, to understand it and use it with the respect that is given to a living being. The wood, which was once a tree, is transformed by the craftsman's skilled hands and takes the form of a bench, a sculpture, a house.
From countless meetings at the top of Serra da Mantiqueira, in the thinking/doing/thinking space of our friend and mentor Morito Ebine, we extracted ideas, techniques, knowledge, suggestions and criticisms whose results are translated today into this small example of what is possible to produce through artisanal work with this noble and generous material.
Furniture, objects and craftsmen intertwine for a moment in an atmosphere where the observer is not a mere spectator, but a new possible channel for disseminating and recovering the appreciation of manual work.
Julia Krantz
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