Hollow Vessel from 8000 Years Old Fossil Oak

Lorenzo Franceschinis, born in Friuli in the north east of Italy, returned to his homeland in 2010 after spending several years abroad working to pursue his lifelong affair with woodworking. A believer in genuine craftsmanship, Franceschinis has focused on developing his skills ever since. Today his natural attitude towards innovation has advanced beyond traditional woodworking, where the soul of wood is often sacrificed in the name of serial production. The Franceschinis approach to woodturning is driven by a curiosity for established technique. Self taught and meticulous, Franceschinis has studied the behavior of wood in a quest to identify its raw state to highlight its defects and bring out its intrinsic beauty. What emerges out of this designer’s hands is not simply the result of his talent and relationship with the medium, but also the phenomena that have marked the living tree throughout history. -“Count the growth rings on a piece of wood, that will tell you how long it has taken to produce it. Single out a line and wonder what happened. Wood never lies, it’s an impartial witness of time. I believe in making people aware of the beauty that surrounds them, it is one of the most valuable forms of education in an globalised economy that defines the value of anything by price tags.” Franceschinis shows total respect for nature and sources material only from trees that have been felled for reasons other than his work.