Jeffro Uitto's sculptures in reclaimed wood from water

There are several artists who work with reclaimed wood, transforming it into original sculptures. But the one who particularly impressed me was Jeffro Uitto, a young American sculptor. In his shop in Tokeland, Washington - Knock on Wood - Reclaimed wood is given a new lease of life and a second chance.

Natural shapes in water-worn wood

Ever since high school Uitto has been crafting all sorts of objects using his favorite material, wood. Interestingly, he didn't get that wood from a gater or a place where wood was being harvested or processed, but used only pieces of wood salvaged from the surroundings. Every branch, root, piece of wood was salvaged and cleaned to be used to build something.

And now Jeffro is doing much the same. He collects water-washed, windswept and rainswept scraps of wood and brings them to his in-store workshop where they are prepared for their new life. Many of the tools Uitto uses to shape the wood to his imagination are made by the artist himself.

The natural shapes of the found wood give Jeffro the idea for his next work. Then, with the design very clear in his mind, he sets off after the next piece of wood that must fit perfectly. Sometimes it takes months, even years, before the carving takes its final shape.

All works that leave his studio are treated with the same care and attention, whether it is a piece of furniture, a sculpture or an object that will decorate a corner of the house. Like any artist, Uitto reinterprets the idea of furniture resulting in useful objects with a lot of artistic charge.

Jeffro doesn't just work in the studio. His clients have often asked him to realize large, special projects in different places around the world. This has resulted in impressive, large-scale sculptures on the beaches of Hawaii or in Alaska. And wood reclaimed from the water often returns to the same water, boasting of its new life.

Jeffro Uitto's incredible art has become so well known that the artist is besieged with requests to travel to places around the world to create unique sculptures tailored to the place.