Pop-up Burled Wood Castles Uli Kirchler
My name is Uli. I was born and raised in the German speaking part of Italy, called South Tyrol. For 10 years or so, I made living playing music all around the world. I was a “one man-band”, guitar in my hand, drums on my back, harmonica propped around my neck.
Marching to the beat of my own drum I found the word of woodworking 25 years ago.
What started out with puzzle boxes, sculpted wooden vases, then wood wall art evolved to 3-D scroll saw scenes. I make simple cuts with a slight angle with my scroll saw, and I’m able to create multi-story towers that telescope in and out of the woods with the flick of the wrist.
The stacked, Castle like towers appear to be build on the rocky hillsides emulated by the knots, burls and twists into the wood’s natural shape.
Sustainability is very important to me. As an artist, I feel best when I can add value to a piece of wood that in most circumstances would be discarded.
I use the entire tree: the lumber to build and sculpt, the cutoffs to make the castles, the twigs and sawdust for inlays.
Other favorite inlay ingredients of mine are brown and blue eggshells from my backyard chickens, grains of Japanese brown rice, red brick, aluminum shavings from the frame of my broken lawn chair (little house and tree inlays), ground-up rocks I find hiking in Oregon.
I sell my work at Art Festivals around the West coast of the United States. Instagram @ulikirchler and countless features on social media sites around the world allow me to pursue my wonderful life as an artist.
I hope we get the chance to meet somewhere.
Buon viaggio
