Our story
We are Maruša and Tone. A married couple in love with wood, nature and our family.
We have been making unique useful and artistic products for over thirty years. Our products are made solely out of wood from our own land and the vicinity. We created our home in a small village near Kranj, surrounded with trees.
Tone
Scrap pieces of wood were transformed into first creations
Inoticed a passion for woodwork very early in my childhood. As a five year old boy, I had been picking up the wood scraps on our farm and tried to create something new. Therefore, it was quite natural for me to decide that after the end of elementary school, I was going to be a carpenter (it was otherwise unpopular at that time, but that didn’t bother me).
I was also observing the top carpenters and cart repairmen in our area at that time and they too inspired me for further work. Janez Vovk (1912 – 2005) especially inspired me.
A desire to create something as beautiful and beautiful as a priceless cherry-wood wardrobe from roughly sawn pieces was driving me. Of such quality that even after fifty years, it’s still shining.
Learning in Škofja Loka
I got a broad knowledge of woodworking from the Škofja Loka high school. I learned everything from wood characteristics to the history of woodworking and trends in the wood industry. It was a great starting point for my further career path. I was working as trainee in Jelovica during my school years and got employed there later on. But with time I realized they didn’t give enough attention to a young person’s desire for innovation and creation.
When my parents were building a new house, a need for new furniture arose. That is why I left Jelovica and started working in my own workshop at home.
The beginning of independent creating
My parents helped me to buy new basic woodworking machine while I helped them with a furniture for the new home. What started as creating for our family home continued when new customers started coming to me with their wishes. That is how I practiced more and more and started becoming a real master. The only thing that led me out of the workshop was tiredness, late hours or the work on our farm. Eventually I acquired a wide range of machinery and tools for woodworking with hard work and inovations.
And, as they say… Everything else is history.
Maruša
Learning by observing
I love to watch Tone work. That was the case from the first time we met. I sometimes help him and he almost always asks for my opinion at the end. That is how I developed my sense for aesthetic.I know what is good and what isn’t. Tone was always explaining to me along the way, how the end product was made and I subconsciously learned from him.
First tries
A year ago, Tone started to persuade our daughter Mirjam to start making small wood statues and sculptures.
Our son Matija had also already made his first knife handles at this point. Conversations between Tone and Mirjam and Matija’s success got me thinking about wanting to try creating something myself. I tried and got a lot of momentum and joy out of it. That is how I started with jewelry making.
Development of the firm
We started with unique furniture and carpentry products, but the wish of working in a more expressive way remained. We regularly did two pieces of the same product, sometimes even a dozen. We later noticed that the similar pieces were harder to sell and people had more diverse ideas. That is why we decided to make anything anyone would want, except the things that are already everywhere else. So windows, kitchens and furniture from chipboard… And our decision was a right one.
In all these years, we made complex pieces for pubs and restaurants, hand-carved wall clocks, decor pieces of furniture, house fountains, children toys, a small wood chapel, trophies, complicated staircase railings and staircases, special picture frames, chairs, note stand, gifts, sculputres and a lot more.
That is how we realized that we are actually sculptors, not with clay, bronze or copper, but with wood.
Artistic work, family and a farm
When we embarked on the independent career path as two 22 year olds, we got both encouragement and critics from our families. It is understandable, as this path was certainly more risky than a classic 6-2 job. But we were not once sorry. Even though we always seem to have too little time, we are the most satisfied when we can give our customer a unique product and see the happiness in their eyes.
A refined piece of wood like that is the most precious one, because there’s only one in the whole world. It has its own shape, structure and characteristics.
This uniqueness and working with Nature’s gift, wood, is what gives us our happiness. We raise our children in the creative atmosphere we have created. Matija is very good at making knife handles from different colored wood and Mirjam and Krištof mastered different carving techniques.
Our motto was, is and will be:
Upgrade our long-lasting experience with artistic woodworking even more and bring joy to people both from afar and around us.
