A little more about Sotvaras

Faces behind the wood

Arūnas

In my teenage years I had spent a lot of time helping my grandfather, my father or my uncle. They built things with their hands. I didn't know it at the time, but those were the lessons I could only understand 20 years later.

I started building virtual things instead and that became my career after I finished my education. When I rediscovered woodwork again few years after all those craftsmen passed away from my life, I understood that I found something that was missing.

A marking point in my journey with wood was when I moved into a new place a few years ago. I had an empty room and no furniture. So I decided to make it. I made my shelving, my table, my bed.

I realized making things out of wood gives me joy. I liked the feel of wood. I liked how much closer to reality creating a physical object felt than writing code that would only produce something on a screen.

When I start working on a project, it becomes a puzzle. And I get posessed by solving that puzzle. Looking for a balance between usability, esthetics and enduring engineering is something that excites me. The result is an outcome of that challenge.

Vilius

I have taken interest in woodworking some 8 years ago.

Wood is a material that has been with us throughout the ages, be it in form of shelters, tools or self expression.

In my process I want to reveal beauty and utility of the wood grain. To do that I tend to use a combination of modern power tools, like a planer and thicknesser, and traditional woodworking tools, such as chisels, planes or saws. A very meditative and cathartic process.

Background in architecture and a skillset for drawing and drafting gives me an edge to pursue various projects outside of my woodshop as well - I love preparing blueprints that will be used in the process of making furniture. It also helps me visualise an idea.

There is yet much knowledge to be learned, so let's get to it!