The tree is a symbol of life, stability, duration. Wood is nature, which – if they want – can become a part of our lives. That happened to me, but studying Tourism Management thought never occurred to me that something as mundane as wood can become a job, a passion, a way of realization of each other.
My adventure with wood started from scratch, ie from the floor. My first work, still under study, a company dealing with import and sale of wooden floors, allowed me to discover this material again. Not only does I met a new species, but also let them get to know to others. By importing the American Black Walnut floors, I’ve initiated in Poland fashion for wooden “exotic”. This probably contributed to my further professional success in the “wood” industry – although already much more creative field. What may in fact be more creative than the heads of the marketing department of the Danish company, which imports “wood from all over the world.”
But this is not to acquire further targets, KPI’s and adherence to deadlines (like I dont miss corpo slang) was on my mind, but wood. Then work on-time and the desire to create “something from nothing” began to fight for my time. Wood won, though not without the support of a loving woman. It is her “YES”, my wife Alice has allowed me to create my first carpentry workshop in one of the rooms of our 50-sqm apartment in Warsaw’s Mokotów. The another “YES” helped me with a clear conscience to quit my job and move to my family city of Chelm, where, with great support of my father, I arranged more and more professional “office” for Woodlovers.
Today, in the era of globalization and universal access to the Internet it is difficult to create something “new” in the field of industrial design. It’s hard to avoid comparisons. But learning all the time, just by working with wood, I recognize and I am overstepping the boundaries posed by the imagination. I do not copy, I overcome the expectations – of my family (which is a huge inspiration), customers (who incorporate my hands into their ideas) and capitalism, which leads to be competitive, if you want to live with what you like. I believe that if the passion is closed in objects, and the search for excellence and love, they are unique – unique and unrepeatable.
Szymon Gacki – WoodLover