Spotlight: Hassan Ghanati, Woodworking Artist

Hassan Ghanati has followed his passion. He works with wood to create both decorative and utilitarian pieces. Using only wood that is reclaimed, he leaves a piece in his sight while he works, letting the wood speak to him.

How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment? Dragged kicking and screaming? Evolving?

When I was twenty-six years old, I changed my field of study. I had studied economics and halfway through my degree I left and decided to follow my passion, Art. Until then, I was more interested in writing and performing arts, but I ended up in Craft and Design at the Art University of Kashan, Iran. In the first month, I realized that this process, where you visualize something in your mind, create it in real form and touch it, is an extraordinary pleasure.

Why woodworking? How does that medium best express what you want to communicate through your art?

About why wood? Well, honestly, I don’t feel any prohibition in myself to use other materials such as metal, ceramic, resin, fibreglass, or even a combination of these. I also have experience working with all of these materials along the way. But there is a technical reason and personal preference for this choice. In my opinion, wood is a more controllable material, neither as hard as metals nor as flexible as clay, and it is attractive to me that it is somewhere in the middle.

A further reason is that you see the years spent creating wood by nature. The first thing I do when I get hold of a local wood is to look at it for a long time. You can understand considerable things about wood by looking at it. How old is it? Which side was north or south? Which year was pleasant for it as it grew up, and which year was tough and dry? Which year was struck by lightning? Which branches did it lose in youth and was welded and his wound healed? For example, when I work with the wood of a hundred-and-fifty-year-old tree, I look at contemporary history and see what happened in that area or all over the world during the life of the tree. Stone or clay or metal is not like that.

A Kurdish poet from the Middle East named Sherko Bekas has a poem on the theme that a carpenter is a sort of God and gives the tree one more chance to live, for all the good that it’s done throughout its life.

Another concern in working with wood is that it always has a surprise for you! Its shape and patterns change with every cut and cut. The audience only sees the final result, but the artist turns the layers over, such a book!

Wood will eventually rot and become a part of nature. Archaeologists usually do not find many wooden works in their excavations. The greatest wooden arts eventually disappeared. The artist who works with wood postpones this decay just a little.

How does your environment influence your creativity? What inspires you to create?

I think that everyone’s source of creativity is as much as the life they have lived. All the things they have seen and heard, everything they have touched, anything they have thought about, all the books they have read, the movies they have seen, the stories they have heard, and the people they have known, all together cause inspiration. What happens when suddenly after a long time, not quite about our current project, a pure idea hits us?

When I was a child, when I wanted to sleep, I used to try to remember the transition between wakefulness and sleep. You know, I wanted to understand and be aware of the boundary between wakefulness and sleep. But I’d never remembered the next morning when exactly I fell asleep and that border between sleep and wakefulness was always lost.

I think the same is true for creative ideas. Certainly, neurologists and brain researchers have more scientific answers, but from my point of view, it is possible to provide a platform for the emergence of creativity with a series of tasks. For me, walking among the trees and just watching nature play that role.

Do you plan your workout ahead of time, or do you just dive in with your materials and start playing?

I have made a promise to myself for many years that I would not use wood from living trees, whether industrially grown and cut, or local green trees.

I usually find one or two local wood suppliers who can carry out the cutting and drying process on the wood of dried or destroyed trees. As a result, my process is a bit different.

I usually put the piece of wood somewhere that is constantly in my sight for a long time. I get to the rest of the projects until I find what this piece of wood wants to become.

I can move a set together in this way, for example, if I want to make 30 vases, I carve them all and then start with 80 grit sandpaper, then I sand all of them with 120 grit, and so on up to 800 grit.

I like to take a finished piece every day. It’s sort of a family tradition! I have always tried to come home with a new piece almost every day for more than a decade. Honestly, I enjoy showing it to my wife to see her reaction. Her reaction has always been the biggest motivation for me to continue.

Describe your creative space.

My workshop is a forty-foot cube shipping container placed at the end of the backyard where the woods begin. All I need is strong electricity and proper ventilation which it has.

What is your favorite lesser-known tool for your trade? Have you taken something designed for another use and repurposed it for your studio?

I have a spoon-carving cave that I think everyone needs. Hand-carved spoons might not be a beneficial product, because it takes so much energy and time. However, the mental health benefits which spoon carving offers are undeniable. For me, it’s such a meditation. That constant carving sound is like mesmerizing music.

How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?

I consider myself a handicraft artist who makes functional and practical artwork such as vases, dishes and even wall art. That is the first principle!

Let’s say I want to try making my first wooden vase. The first sample usually comes out funny with a general flaw that you can’t see until you make your design. Then, in every next version, I edit something or change its design.

I try to make any kind of wooden vase that I can imagine and I think would be beautiful. This process varies from a few months to even one or two years until the day that I make all the potential vases I want. And even if I have an order, it is not easy to do that.

Is there an overarching theme that connects all of your work?

I believe giving authenticity to the nature of wood can be an overarching theme in all my works. I try to show the unique beauty of each piece of wood in the best possible way by cutting and sanding.

How is your work different than it was in the beginning? How is it the same?

My work has definitely changed. Art students initially examine the course in-depth via theory rather than practice, so it’s fair to say they don’t have a thorough knowledge at first

However, I always tried to produce as creative ideas as possible. Knowing the nature of a material like wood takes years to understand what can be done with wood and what cannot and should not be done.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work? 

I try to participate in local markets to be in touch with people, talk to artists and individuals at exhibitions, and sometimes give a piece as a gift.

How have other people supported or inspired you?

My wife and I were both classmates at The Art University and she has always been the most influential person in my life who has always supported me from the beginning of this journey. I don’t think I can tell all the names here, but let me say the last one. I recently read a book by Suzanne Simard. A Canadian scientist who is a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. “Finding The Mother Tree”: Discovering The Wisdom Of The Forest and a story that revealed/confirmed indigenous perspectives on forest communities; and very much more. 

Where can people see your work?

Learn more about Hassan on his website. Follow Hassan on Instagram.