“The trees know that you can be still and grow at the same time.”
Chris McGeown
If you’re looking for what sort of inspiration may come out of the mountainous woodland of Wales, look no further than craftsman and carver Giles Newman. With only his ax and chisel, he carves exquisitely detailed spoons and necklaces out of naturally fallen pieces of wood in the forest he tends. Newman has been practising his carving skills for many years but has only recently begun sharing his inspirational pieces with the world…
“With a background in photography and graphic design but a lifelong love of woodlands and wilderness, I started wood carving in early 2015 as a way to spend more time in the small woodland that I manage in the mountains of North Wales. Using only the tools that I already had for looking after the woodland, my axe and a knife, I began carving wooden spoons from wind fallen trees and branches that I would find and forage for on the woodland floor. After twelve months I abandoned my life as a designer and photographer to pursue my wood carving full time.”
“My work is created from and inspired by the woodlands that surround me. Often a reflection of the passing seasons, my carvings are personal observations and interpretations of natural beauty and celebrate the momentary minutiae that serve as markers of time in nature. I seek to carve intricate, organic and fleetingly fragile subjects that contrast the characteristics of rigid strength and longevity with which wood, as a material, is imbued. In the form of a spoon, the sculptural nature of my work contradicts the principle that the shape of a tool must be defined by its function and challenges the viewer to question the form of objects that are at once fundamental to our everyday lives, but most often seen as mundane and given little regard.”
There is something spectacular about creating something beautiful from fallen wood albeit, a small piece. It’s as if its essence has been carried on or been at the very least, honored. It’s through Giles, the tree has gone on to inspire more people to love and appreciate trees.