You can make Anything Out of C Wood ONE OF THE WORLD S BEST CHAINSAW WOODCARVERS
Andreas Martin is a man of many ideas. When a giant spruce was felled in a neighbouring forest area in 2009, and no use could be found for it, he turned it into the longest table in the world. At 39.80 metres long, it was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 2010. It is protected against the weather by a canopy supported on 24 wooden miners, referring to the mining tradition of the Ore Mountains.
Andreas Martin s philosophy You can make anything out of wood has even become his life s work. A quarter of a century ago, he built Blockhausen, a forest resort near the village of Dorfchemnitz in the Ore Mountains of Saxony. Log cabins handcrafted from tree trunks in the North American style stand on a hill in the middle of the woods. But something sets them apart from other buildings of this kind: These are surrounded by myriad sculptures carved using chainsaws. Andreas Martin is a man of many talents: He studied forestry and worked as a district forest ranger until 2010, when he became an entrepreneur and restaurant owner. He is also a passionate hunter. His work as a chainsaw artist resulted from his affinity for the forest and wood as a material. At 60, Andreas Martin has seen a lot, which also makes him a great storyteller. Guests hang on his every word when he tells them about the forests, log cabins, woodcraft, and his travels to competitions all over the world, including Japan and the USA. He regales them with jokes, sometimes revealing a dark sense of humour. For Andreas Martin, meeting people, swapping experiences, having a good chat and sharing a laugh are what count. I am always there for my guests, he says. AN ARTIST OR NOT AN ARTIST? But the story of Blockhausen has to be told from the beginning, and it starts with Andreas Martin himself. He is a master of his trade, one of the best German chainsaw woodcarvers in the world. He is known on the scene as the sow sawer thanks to his penchant for carving wild boars. In 2007, he won the European championships in Manchester, England. The contest did not start off well: Lots were drawn to allocate the logs to participants, and Andreas drew number 15 out of a total of 17. The tree trunk he ended up with was large, but twisted with knots and side branches. I had planned to carve a motif with British humour, such as a caricature of a hunter. But log no. 15 didn t allow for that, he recalls. He sat staring at it for half an hour, wondering what to make with it. Then he said to himself, Okay, if I can t do my original idea, then I will carve what I do best : Pigs, or to be more precise, wild boars a whole pack of them. In the end, everyone called me the crazy German. Nobody had expected me to carve an award-winning design with 16 wild boars out of that gnarled tree trunk. More delicate observers may not consider chainsaw carving to be an art form. Chainsaws are loud, and when they sink into the wood, shavings fly everywhere. Are chainsaw carvers artists or not? That is not an existential question for Andreas Martin. What matters more to him is that he can do what he wants; he doesn t want to be categorised: I don t care if some consider me an artist and others don t. I am who I am: Andreas Martin. I do chainsaw carving for myself and for people who enjoy it. And there are plenty of people who do. It is autumn 2016, and everyone in Blockhausen is busy, even though winter is on its way and the first snow has already fallen. Andreas Martin and his employees are building a new canopy for the carving classes. He enjoys teaching beginners, he says. For eight years now, he has passed on his It is remarkable what delicate artworks can be crafted using a chainsaw. SIGHTGEIST 87
knowledge to students ranging from 14-year-old boys to 75-yearold grandmas. Every year, up to 150 participants come here to work on a topic over the weekend. It s a social event, and staying overnight in the forest is an experience in itself for many. When it s over, everyone gets to take their own personal piece of carving home with them. One of his former students from Norway now even ranks among the best in the world. Once a year at Whitsun, Andreas Martin and his team organise the Husky Cup, turning Blockhausen into a true mecca for the international chainsaw carving scene. What began as a small event with eight carvers in 2004 has since grown into the world s most lucrative chainsaw carving competition with international attendance. An audience of 10,000 came in 2016 to watch 30 of the best carvers from all over the world. After Vikings attack an English village last year, the theme in 2017 will be Wild Beasts of Europe. Although the Husky Cup sets high standards in terms of craftsmanship, for Andreas Martin it is the community, the experience, the enthusiasm and creativity that make it so special. The focus isn t really on winning. LOOKING BACK: AN IDEA TAKES ROOT The founders of Blockhausen could never have dreamed that things would turn out this way. Back in the days of East Germany and the Iron Curtain, Andreas Martin was a forest ranger in the district where Blockhausen now stands. It was a standard plot of forest, and his job was nothing out of the ordinary. But then the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the borders opened. After German reunification in 1990, the trust company that managed the assets of former East Germany began selling off areas of land, including the woods where Andreas Martin worked as a forest ranger. Martin grasped the opportunity and bought 75 hectares of woods. After adding land bought from private owners, he ended up with around 100 hectares of property. Because it had been poorly managed for many years due to a lack of manpower and machines, the Martins had their work cut out for them. They cleared out fallen trees, planted beech trees on 40 hectares to change the spruce monoculture back into mixed forest. In the years leading up to 1996, the Martins also created several tracks and added a timber store in the hilly woodland. The result was a family-run forestry company. Since it needed a head office, Andreas Martin learned from a Canadian how to build log cabins from tree trunks. That first hut marked the birth of Blockhausen, though it was not yet called so. The idea for the name came to him much later when he needed a brand for the business, which was attracting more and more attention. SIGHTGEIST 89
Andreas Martin has four children. He hopes they will one day follow in his footsteps and continue the idea of Blockhausen. He says he has never considered his work in the forests, with wood and with his guests to be a chore: Blockhausen is not just an occupation, it is my vocation.
The Walk of Fame for chainsaw carvers is in Blockhausen. The first visitors came to Blockhausen to take part in guided hikes through the woods with Andreas Martin and learn about the forest as an ecosystem. As word spread throughout the region, more people came. The lively get-togethers in the evening after these tours of the forest were the foundation for the adventure and catering business he runs today. Every year, 30,000 to 40,000 visitors come to Blockhausen for events, wedding receptions, company outings, training seminars or day trips. The crowds are in no way detrimental to the forest and its wildlife, as guests are requested to park their cars on the road at the edge of the woods and walk in from there. THE FUTURE IS AN OPEN BOOK Over the years, as the Martins forest continued to grow, so did Blockhausen with more log cabins. As time went by, hundreds of wooden figures also multiplied on the property, arranged by theme: mythical creatures, Vikings, figures from Saxony s history, animals, and many others. Every year at Whitsun, more figures and topics are added at the Husky Cup. Having invested more than a quarter century s worth of time, energy and lifeblood in the project, Andreas Martin wants to make sure it will last. In the coming years, it will not be an easy task for him to preserve his life s work, develop new ideas and manage guests, all at the same time. Even though the family business and several employees live from the proceeds of Blockhausen, he does not charge an entrance fee. He generates revenue from events and from catering for guests. He does not want to create a barrier that might stop people from coming. Everyone is welcome, Blockhausen is an open museum, he says. His guests appreciate that. He already has 19 visitor books filled with more than 8,000 entries. Many even come several times a year. Andreas Martin s commitment has attracted attention not only in Saxony and Germany, but worldwide. In 2016 he received an honorary invitation to the Chainsaw Carvers Rendezvous in Pennsylvania. He and his wife were the first foreigners to feature on the annual t-shirts for participants. A few months ago, an illustrious documentary film team led by Carla Ronga from Italy approached him. They wanted to make a film about his life s work and show it at the festivals in Plovdiv und Cannes. You can make anything out of wood. You can even shape your whole life out of wood. As Andreas Martin says, he has never considered his work with wood and with his guests to be a chore: Blockhausen is not just an occupation, it is my vocation. Blockhausen is my life s work. SIGHTGEIST 91