The workshop of the wood sculptor Philipp Buhl is located on the outskirts of Gilching, in a former cowshed of an old farm. He furnished it together with his brother Simon and their friends Jonas von Lüpke and Markus Willer, three carpenters. Together they poured the screed, laid cables and bought heavy machinery – and built a run for their chickens.
Philipp, 26, knew since eleventh grade that he wanted to be a wood sculptor. He had always loved to draw and do handicrafts. Wood, this living, unconventional raw material, fascinated him. After graduating from high school, he studied in Garmisch for three years, which was “super nice”. Philipp also does carpentry, builds furniture or does interior work: “It’s fun – and makes money.”
With this machine, a so-called “shaper tool”, quite revolutionary in the craft, Jonas and Markus are currently building their masterpieces. Of course, it takes agreements to use a workshop with four people, which one could also use alone – but that works well, says Philipp. And there is always someone there with whom you can make a campfire in the yard after work.
When he has time for himself, Philipp draws a lot. He usually draws mythical creatures, composed of motifs that just keep coming up: legs, limbs, birds. “I just start without knowing where I’m going to end up,” he says. Quite calmly – that’s Philipp.
Sometimes Philipp’s drawings want to be more, sometimes something cries out to be processed more intensively: Then he turns them into sculptures, like this bird with a funnel head. He is enthusiastic about structures, says Philipp; Feathers are exciting to carve. He also felt like creating something of this dimension again. Two and a half weeks of work went into the funnel-headed bird.
Philipp has also been studying at the art academy since 2019. Wood carving is quite traditional, he says. At the academy he would like to broaden his horizons and use the many workshops to try out as many things as possible: glass, stone, 3D printing, plaster, ceramics. Wood, pen and paper will stay with him, “definitely.”