Collaborative Project

Cillian Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN
Ireland

Cillian is an award-winning designer and furniture-maker, based in Co. Dublin, Ireland. Working in wood, Cillian is known for his minimal, geometric style and clean aesthetic. He began his professional life as a mechanical engineer, but transitioned to a career in craft in 2007 with an apprenticeship in cabinet-making. In 2011 he set up his own studio, Cillian Ó Súilleabháin Furniture, where he continues to hand-make his signature furniture.
Cillian has participated in all of the Collaborative Projects at World Wood Day, as both a team member and a Team Leader.

Jacques Anthony VESERY
USA

Jacques Vesery is an Artist/ Sculptor from Maine, USA and has work is in numerous public and private collections including the Detroit Institute of Art, The Renwick Gallery-Smithsonian American Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Peabody- Essex Museum, The Carnegie Museum and Permanent Museum collections in France, Turkey and Japan. He is a Maine Arts Commission Fellow [2000] and “Master Craft Artist” and lifetime membership from the Maine Crafts Association [2011].
Jacques has lectured, demonstrated and taught on design and concepts within his work in 13 countries, including two semesters at Harvard University for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences titled "the Art of Collaboration". He has participated in WWD on five collaborative projects and was lead artist for two such events.

Yamila CARTANNILICA
Argentina

Yamila Cartannilica lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she currently develops her work. She graduated from Universidad Nacional de las Artes, UNA, with a degree in sculpture. She teaches drawing and sculpture at the University and at Escuela Superior de Artes, Manuel Belgrano.
She started working with wood in 2006 and ever since has participated, as a sculptress, in international and national symposiums, workshops and contests. She has been part of multiple exhibitions and collective shows. She has received several sculpture honors and awards, as well as sculpture and research grants. She has created monuments for the city of Buenos Aires. She currently works at her own studio.

Neil Maurice TURNER
Australia

Timber is a living breathing organism that captures my imagination. The opportunity to express thoughts and ideas in a tangible creation that continues to react within its environment. To design and create in timber poses many challenges both in structure and integrity but the pleasure I derive from my work is simple, a joy and passion to create pieces of work that I like.

Jackie Lee CHAPMAN
Canada

Jackie Chapman is an artist, sculptor and designer living in coastal British Columbia.
As a self‑taught woodturner driven by the desire to design with intention, her craft has been developed through experimentation, embracing both the predictable and unpredictable in her materials.
Being guided by slow design, sustainability, and the beauty of imperfection, her intuitive process yields unique, timeless pieces that feel like extensions of nature - grounded yet deeply alive.
Her work is rooted in the textures and rhythms of the wild but influenced and inspired by the human experience. Organic, flowy and abstract work designed to evoke the emotional undercurrents of life itself.
She currently works out of her studio in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.

Nathalie Johanne GROENEWEG
France

French woodturner, luthier and carver, I have been working with wood for 25 years now. I own my studio in the south of France. I make lamps, birdnest and feeder, boxes, platters using the lathe. I also carve wood for clients, I repare accordions and I teach woodturning in a school in France. I have been part of few collaborative project in 2016 (Népal) and 2017 (Los Angeles).

Eric Adjetey ANANG
Ghana

Born in Teshie, on the coast of Ghana, Eric Adjetey Anang began helping his family in the carpentry workshop at the age of eight. He joined the family business, Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop, as an apprentice following high school, and assumed leadership of the shop at twenty. Anang is a third generation coffin-maker and, along with his father and apprentices, passionately stewards his family’s legacy as he refines and elevates this culturally significant art form.
Anang’s work has been shown in exhibitions across West Africa and Europe and is held in private collections across the globe. Since 2008, Anang has participated in a dozen residencies, conducted workshops, and has been featured in multiple documentaries worldwide. He maintains a dual-residency in Madison, Wisconsin and at Teshie, where he continues to produce coffins for funerary patrons, art collectors, and museum collections, including the University of Iowa Museum of Art.

Hideta KITAZAWA
Japan

I was born in 1968 Tokyo ,Japanese traditional style woodcarver.
I received title of traditional Master Craftsman by Governor of Tokyo.


Takahiro YOSHINO
Japan

1958 Born in Tokyo, Japan
1980 Started learning wood working
1982 Studied under: Mr. Jiro Hayashi, Master Craftsman western style furniture maker & Mr. Kenji Suda, Human Treasure of Japanese traditional wooden craft artist
1985 Opened independent studio in Tokyo
1988 Moved the shop and gallery to Lake Kawaguchiko, at the foot of Mt. Fuji
2020 Established the Mt. Fuji Wood Culture Society

Participated:
2008 Milano Salone, Italy International Furniture Show
2011-2016 Hawaii Wood Show. Given many awards including Honorable Mention, First Place and Best of Show 2013

Presentation & Workshop:
2014-18 Furniture society conference
2014 Australia National University of Art
2015 Visited by Smithsonian Institute
2016 George Nakashima studio

Awards Received:
2001 second Place: Grand Prix in the World Wooden craft Exhibition
2010 second Place: Society for Japanese Design for School Furniture

Yasuyuki "Kakky" KAKINUMA
Japan

Born in Ibaraki, Japan.
After gaining experience in restaurant management and other fields, now works as a traditional carpenter as a sole proprietor. Involved in the relocation of the Chair Laboratory at Mt Fuji WCS and the construction of a new' Woodworking Studio'.
Director of Mt. Fuji WCS. Running a workshop in Ibaraki and Yamanashi prefectures, where he cuts down trees with children and uses them to make green woodworking.

Anees MANNI
Jordan

I make organic and geometrical abstract sculptures exploreing the evolution of forms in nature and in human culture. I use wood, stone bronze and other materials. I have had eight solo exhibitions in Jordan, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Spain, participated in many international group exhibitions, sculpture symposia, collaborations, workshops and art residencies. Public collections at National and state museums, municipalities and universities in Jordan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Japan and the Netherlands.

Rihards VIDZICKIS
Latvia

I studied traditional-style furniture making and woodcarving, but during my university years, I became especially drawn to green woodworking - an ancient craft with strong potential in contemporary and future design. My work combines the study of traditional skills with the search for new solutions and the sharing of knowledge. To support this, I established the Woodcraft Museum and Vienkoči Park in Latvia - a place where craftsmanship, science, and tourism come together. I especially enjoy working with traditional hand tools and exploring a wide range of historical woodworking techniques.

Indra Prasad SHILPAKAR
Nepal

Indra Prasad Shilpakar is a Nepalese Wood Carver, artist and teacher based in Bhaktapur, Nepal. He has a degree in Fine arts and a Masters in Contemporary sculpture from Tribhuvan University. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, and pieces can be found in private collections across Europe and Nepal.
Since 2002 he has participated annually in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts (NAFA) and was honored to receive the special award in Handicraft in 2017 from NAFA. Indra Prasad participated in World Wood Day 2016, a brick-by-brick collaborative project in Nepal and recently (2018) his works were exhibited in the “Newar Craftsman of Kathmandu Valley; Objects of Devotion from Nepal” event held at the College of the Holy Cross in the USA.
Working closely with his father, Indra Prasad is intimately involved in restoration works to ensure the nation of Nepal remains connected with its traditional roots. Over the last two decades, they have been key in numerous restoration projects in the UNESCO World heritage site of Patan Durbar Square .Indra Prasad begins his designs on paper and then moves forward by selecting the finest and most appropriate wood. Wood varieties of choice include Sal (Shorea Robusta), Champ (Michelia Champaca) and Sisau (Dalbergia Sissoo). The artist then spends his days delicately carving his pieces in their stunning final form.

Rebecca ASQUITH
New Zealand

Rebecca Asquith is a designer, maker, and environmental craft artist with over 23 years experence in the film industry as a Set Designer and Model Maker. With 15 years of experience designing and handcrafting furniture and lighting, her practice is deeply rooted in working with wood, natural materials and recycling materials. Rebecca creates sculptural and miniature environments that reflect on humanity’s disconnection from nature. She has participated in collaborative art projects in Cambodia, Canada, and New Zealand. In 2012, she received a Creative New Zealand Grant to explore experimental leatherwork, further expanding her approach to material and narrative in craft.

Aldo SHIROMA UZA
Peru

Born in Lima, Peru in 1975. Studied plastic arts with a specialty in sculpture at the Catholic University of Perú from 1992 to 1997 and completed a master's degree in Artistic Production with a specialty in Public Art at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain 2007 – 2008.
Since 1998 has represented Peru in more than forty international sculpture symposiums in South America, North America, Europe and Asia.
My works are made in different materials such as wood, marble, granite, limestone, metal, among others. Through playful forms and personal fauna full of humor and tenderness, I approach the viewer to invite them to be part of my sculptural proposals.

Fukiko YOSHINO
Japan

Born in 1994 in Nagoya, Japan. Moved to Ningbo, China in 2001. Studied Chinese painting at the China Academy of Art after graduating from its affiliated high school. Returned to Japan in 2018 after completing a degree. From 2022, studied traditional woodturning and lacquerware at the Woodturning Technical Training Center in Ishikawa. Creating works that highlight the natural beauty of materials.

Togo MIYASHITA
Japan

Born in a soba restaurant in Tokyo 1999. In my 3rd year of training at MFWCS. I dream of connecting woodworkers worldwide.

Yuuki YOSHINO
Japan

I’m 24 years old. Born in Yamanashi, Japan.
I trained for two years at the Traditional Woodturning School in Ishikawa Prefecture. After that, I returned to Yamanashi, where I mainly create wooden ballpoint pens while continuing to study other techniques under my father. In addition to woodturning, I also do iron forging and make small brass parts.

Jonah Gold VESERY
USA

A woodworker, blacksmith, and metal sculptor. He learned woodworking from an early age following his father’s instruction, and has continued to improve his skills by teaching woodworking at his former high school and by working as a carpenter. Following his graduation from the University of Delaware in 2019, Jonah traveled to Peru, and volunteered as a teacher at a children’s art school. He currently lives in Damariscotta, Maine, USA.