Whilst training in carpentry, Ernst Gamperl turned to the lathe rather by chance, and embarked on a lifelong love affair with wood.

Over the past 20 years, Gamperl has studied its drying properties and their impact on wooden sculpture; never forcing a shape upon a piece, rather, letting the natural quality of the material shine through.

We think his work is jaw-dropping, a poetic dialogue between nature and human action. Curved edges and bulges, projections and indentations emerge as part and parcel of designs which are kind of managed by Gamperl rather than created as he repairs and controls branches and irregular growth formations, fissures and fractures.

Gorgeous stuff.