We have our "Japanese"

Whenever I get the chance, I talk about the emergence of a new generation of carpenters who do this job out of passion and not because they learned it in school. Their passion for wood made them leave totally different trades to do what they love. And they do it very well, constantly improving and learning, and without accepting that "it just works". For them, perfect joints, respect for wood, traditions and the customer are the new job description. I wrote at one point about one of them - you may remember - when I told you about wooden games. This time I'm going to tell you about two young people from Bucharest who make remarkable solid wood furniture, impeccably executed with a modern design and atypical shapes.

Dragoș and Costi have been working together for almost 2 years. Until then they had each worked in their own workshop following their passion. A chance meeting brought them together and the chemistry between them turned out to be perfect. They decided to join forces and ... this is where their story begins.

Dragos has been passionate about wood from a young age and inclined towards the technical side. He grew up in a technical environment, with parents and grandparents who were engineers and an uncle who was an architect. At one point he received a gift of a woodworking kit. He loved it so much that it became his favourite toy. He was also delighted when he received the model airplanes. He would sit and fiddle with them all day, gluing the pieces together. He told me the other day that even now, when he smells wood and glue, he instantly gets a feeling of joy.

Unfortunately in the 90s it didn't seem the best solution to attend a technical college. Factories were disappearing, engineers were no longer in demand, so he was directed to ASE. He finished university in 2000, after which he worked for 6 months in a bank and another 3 months in another job. It was enough for him to realise that he didn't like it at all and wanted something else. He started doing production and commercials. Because he needed to produce commercials (and the passion already existed) he set up a small workshop in his balcony. There he even ended up making his own furniture. Now he wonders how he managed it in such a small space.

Some filmmaker friends, having a space available in the basement, offered it to him to make a more respectable workshop. He bought some tools and started working more. Gradually he started to get commissions. First friends, then friends of friends, until word got around and that space wasn't enough either. He rented a house, gave up advertising and started making furniture.

Nearly two years ago he was commissioned to make a medieval table. He had to make a solid wood table top 10 cm thick and over 2 metres long. Being very heavy he decided to make the frame and legs out of metal. When he had finished the top he started looking for someone who worked with metal. A friend told him about Costi. He looked him up, Costi came with his welding machine and they spent the whole day together, first doing the frame design and then physically making it. It was, so to speak, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship".

Costs but he came from a technical college - Fine Mechanics - but he was passionate about design, wood and metal. So he set up his own workshop and started working on all sorts of special things. Do you know what Costi is like? The kind of person who sees a discarded piece of pipe and a piece of wood and thinks about what he could do with them. He's made light fixtures, fittings with reclaimed wood or furniture out of wood and metal. Until fate arranged for him to meet Dragos.

Now Costi and Dragos have been working together for more than a year and a half. They work on projects end-to-end, from design to execution. They complement each other, with Costi doing the design and Dragoș the technical implementation. And when they talk they complement each other. Dragoș tells stories, tells how they do things, how they talk to clients, all with a lot of passion. Costi keeps quiet and listens very carefully, and if necessary, he makes points. Two or three words, no more, but enough.

They work with different types of wood and love to combine different coloured woods. They suggest customers, when they want a darker colour, choose walnut wood, not a walnut stained wood. It's true, it's not always possible, but if they can, they do their best to convince the customer.

They work according to the old methods of joining wood, no nails or screws, only wood to wood. All of their drawers have joints on the sides in swallowtail. Dragoș told me at one point that they were at a customer's to install his furniture. After they finished the office they went to another room to fit another piece. In the meantime the client sat down at the desk after which he came transfigured saying "Fraaaaate, how can that sound!" The fact that it had no metal joints made the desk, when he knocked on it, sound in a special, very warm way.

Working very well they have been growing and have recently moved into a real hall which they are very pleased with. The large space helps them to work more easily, "to get up to speed" as Dragos says. I want to drop by soon to see how they've settled in. But also because I want to write about the joints they are making, at leisure, with pictures and videos if possible. So, stay tuned!

In the March 2018 In Din Lemn magazine you will find a detailed article by Dragoș and Costi about how to make pairing with bow ties, but also a discussion about their work and passion. Subscribe! Get informed and inspired!

Photos: Dragoș Costache and Constantin Iosif