ADORE WOODS

ADORE WOODS is one professional face of Norman Ridenour, award winning California designer and sculptor, who moved to the Czech Republic a decade and a half ago. There, the temptation of having a huge supply of fine fruit woods to work; cherry, pear, apricot and apple along with walnut, oak and ash, was too much to resist. He went back to working with his hands.

After two sculpture exhibits Ridenour is now creating functional work as well. Bowls, trays, vases and candle holders are now available for you to buy as instant heirlooms for you, your family and friends. All pieces are unique, signed and dated.

There is no effort made to create identical pieces though favorite forms recur. The wood, single unlaminated pieces, is usually worked on the lathe while still wet and then let to dry. In the drying process the thin, approximately 1/8” (2-4mm), walls are free to distort and reshape. Often in the end only a little remains of the symmetrical form generated on the lathe. Sensual, organic shapes, incorporating small knots, spalting and radical grain contrasts, emerge from the workshop. Most pieces are finished with a special mix of oil and wax providing a soft satin surface, which is indefinitely renewable.

No trees are cut expressly for this work. Wood is salvaged; from orchard culling, planned forest management, urban expansion, wind blown trees or factory scrap, in the lands of Bohemia and Moravia.

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