Wood is an extraordinary rich and diverse substance, difficult and unforgiving if abused, demanding of condiderable and precise understanding. Before it can be worked with, it has to be worked at, and this requires discipline, a fair bit of time and ideally one or more good teachers! It is an arduous process – but then learning anything thoroughly and purposefully occurs as a series of stages, even as a leisure activity.

Making wooden things is about design and function. These two words often provoke enormous contention, but I use them in their widest and least exclusive sense. I would suggest that design is an analytic and constructive activity while function covers a range of considerations, from the aesthetic to the utilitarian. Both design and function are affected by the problems of cost, and central to both is means of manufacture, the manner of the making.

Heikki Moilanen

I grew up in Pudasjärvi. I have taught woodworking for about ten years. My livelihood is to teach, but making small wooden boxes is a sideline that I enjoy. About half of the products that can be seen here is my own design. Guess which!