nicholas shurey, an architect-turned-sculptor looking to find the will of wood

curved, soft and tactile are some characteristics present in nicholas shurey’s work. the british architect-turned-sculptor, who now resides in copenhagen, has virtually opened the doors to his studio to designboom where he shared with us his love for forests, trees and wood in sculpting while explaining his creative process. the studio, which is part of an old sawmill, was recently renovated together with furniture-maker benjamin ahearn.

(main) image by kim holtermand
(above) image by ed gumuchian

‘I have always loved being in nature and working with wood, as well as an interest in sculpture. so two years ago I left architecture and travelled to switzerland to work on a farm and learn how to carve in wood,’ shurey tells designboom on his transition from positions at studio toogood and space copenhagen to his current artistic practice.

image by anne-sophie rosenvinge

nicholas shurey’s body of work is made of wooden sculptural pieces, some functional, others not. but all of them have a thread that guides them and that is the idea of a sense of energy — they feature continuous, oscillating arcs and curves that create tension between the different masses. expelling a strong tactile sense, the sculptures ask to be touched, to be felt. this is something the artist wants and has embedded this intention into his pieces. ‘certain combinations of shapes, lines, and masses seem to have an ability to impress ideas, feelings and sensations upon us,’ the artist continues.

image by kim holtermand

‘I spend a lot of time studying objects with interesting curves – these may be natural ones such as plants, bones, rocks, or man made ones like ship propellers. I sketch thoughts down without necessarily knowing what I want to create, and will come back to these ideas much later on. I work mainly with greenwood logs that I prepare and dry out myself. the logs typically vary a lot in shape and appearance, which means that ideas often have to be developed with the exact log in mind.’

image by armin tehrani

conceptually, shurey states his work is made of an inter-species collaboration between himself and the trees he carves. he works with locally sourced trees that have been felled around copenhagen and responds to what he calls, the will of the tree. ‘often there’s a lot of material that has to be removed from a log first and it can feel both never-ending and that I’ve gone too far. the process starts with a chainsaw, then angle grinders, before moving on to hand tools like spokeshaves, drawknives and carving gouges. when the form starts to appear, there’s a real sense of arrival.’

image by armin tehrani

as for what’s next for shurey, the artist told us he’s currently working on a two-meter-tall sculpture for a client in san francisco and starting a piece for japanese fashion designer jun takahashi.

image by armin tehrani