Interview

• Do you do everything on your own?

  Yes. Sometimes it can be a bit of a problem, but at the same time it is always very dangerous to get too big, too fast. If you have a big workshop, employees, you end up in a kind of production mindset, and you don’t care that much about the essence of work itself.

• How does working solo help bring your ideas to life?

  That is the great advantage of doing the whole process from A to Z. A big part of my job is looking at the things I am doing, taking a million decisions every day. I cannot delegate that to somebody else. I believe the public would notice if I did.

• Do you experiment with different types of wood?

  The one thing I pay a lot of attention to is where the wood is coming from. I’m much more of an upcycler than a buyer of wood. The wood I use is mainly local, which had to be chopped down anyway. I don’t use any exotic wood.

• Do you consider yourself an artist or an artisan?

  One doesn’t go without the other. On a day-to-day basis, this is an artisan’s job, but my mind is that of an artist. Also the movement, how you use your tools and materials, is very important, because it’s a prerequisite to accomplish what the artist’s mind wants.