PORTRAIT
Born in Bavaria/Germany in 1967 and raised on my parents' farm, I discovered my love of wood at an early age and learned the profession of carpenter. I worked in a small family business for a few years, where I was able to gain versatile experience and began to experiment in the field of design. I decided to follow my creative urge, graduated from the Technical College for Design in Augsburg and then studied Interior Design in Rosenheim.
I have been working as an interior designer since 1998. While living in Alaska for several months (2001), I discovered a book written by the English woodturner Tony Boase which excited me so much that I took up woodturning again. In 2005 I moved to the Rhineland for love.
My special connection to wood, my passion to work with it and my creative urge have further deepened over the years. Since 2006 I have been working as a freelance wood artist in Leverkusen.
Native woods, preferably oak, are the base of my objects. I turn thin-walled vessels, some asymmetrical, on different axes. The finely sanded inner and heavily brushed outer surfaces and final finish of the works display the living structure of the wood. The individual grain of each object thus emerges not only visually but also haptically. I like to play with the colouring properties of tannic acid, which oak wood contains naturally, to obtain variability in the final surface colouring of my vessels.
Awards / Honourings
2024 Jan Willems-Preis Grassimesse / Leipzig
2023 Cheongju Craft Biennale / Korea (Finalist)
2023 Danner Award (nominated)
2022 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize (Finalist)
2022 Zeughausmesse Arts & Crafts Days / Berlin (2. Platz)
2021 Hessian State Award 3rd place
2017 State Award MANUFACTUM / NRW
2017 Danner Award (nominated)
Collections
Museum of Art and Cultural History / Dortmund
GRASSI Museum / Leipzig
Member / Represented
Recommended by HOMO FABER GUIDE
Member of Applied Art NRW
Member of German Crafts Association
Loewe Foundation THE ROOM
Bavarian Arts and Crafts Association
PRESS
Lokalzeit aus Köln vom 26. 10. 2013
Baum Kunst made in Leverkusen
besteshandwerk
Handwerk, Design, Kunst und Tradition Köln und Umgebung
Auszug aus dem Titel: „Handwerk, Design, Kunst und Tradition Köln und Umgebung“ (Autorin: Silke Martin, Fotografen: Andreas Tauber und Friedhelm Rettig, April 2011, Neuen Umschau Bucherverlag, ISBN-Nummer 978-3-86528-486-0)
Schöner Wohnen
Ausgabe Februar 2023
Auszug aus der Februar Ausgabe 2023
Redaktion: Judith Schüller
Photos: Jonas von der Hude
Produktion: Irina Graewe
Text: Gunda Siebke