Alex Finberg

WINNER: Craft Festival Award
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Alex is a traditional craftsman based in South Devon, using age old carving techniques to craft wood into beautiful, functional woodenware from wind fallen and sustainably cut local trees. He is an advocate for the new wood culture movement and the rediscovering of our relationship to the origins of everyday things.

Alex has felled a number of the trees whose wood features in this exhibition, each item having taken a journey from trunk and limb to a finished piece, with close to zero use of machinery or petrol, the trees having been felled with handsaws, then carved with axes and knives leaving the pronounced signatures of edge tools. This technique fosters an intimate relationship between the land the trees grew upon, the trees themselves, the craftsman and the user.

This collection is designed to be functional whilst bringing essences of the natural world into the modern home, comprising a range of contemporary cookware from spatulas to salad servers, shrink pots to eating spoons.

The items have been given a range of natural finishes, the darker stains being from Oak Gall, Iron Water and Urushi Lacquer, and through a process of roasting and oiling which turns pale wood a rich dark brown.

Alex runs a range of workshops on spoon carving, bowl carving, whittling and shrink-pot making and is a guest tutor at Schumacher College. He is a member of the Association of Pole Lathe Turners & Green Wood Workers, Devon Rural Skills Trust and MAKE Southwest.

IG: @alex.finberg

WEB: alexfinberg.co.uk

WINNER: Craft Festival Award

Awarded by Sarah James, Craft Festival Director

“I really loved helping select Making It. A range of incredible makers from across the South West, all producing innovative, interesting and important work. I was drawn to Alex Finberg’s perceived simplicity in his work. As someone who has tried to carve a spoon on several occasions, I am well aware of the skill and patience needed to produce something useful. Alex produces elegantly designed spoons and wooden items that are functional and beautiful, requiring great skill to make.

Alex will receive a stand in the StartUp section of Craft Festival 2023 and 2 year’s free membership of Find a Maker Directory and Business School.”