WooDream, Bucharest: From photography, to furniture production, from a passion for aesthetics

Relu Draghici: "For most of the people we know, the transition from photography to furniture design seems illogical, but for me it's not, it's just another way to express my creativity." (INTERVIEW)

Relu Draghici, a professional photographer, discovered that he could express his creativity through woodworking. He found common ground between photography and furniture production and started to bring solid wood to life with Felder machines.

You recognize Relu Draghici from the cover Autumn 2019 special offers catalog of Felder Gruppe Romania. And, if you were at this year's BIFE-SIM, you will certainly have seen him at the Felder Gruppe Romania stands testing and demonstrating the machines.

But not only Relu Draghici did this.

And Gheorghe Predescu, one of the oldest customers of Felder Gruppe Romania, since 2007 is spending his birthday with the Felder Gruppe Romania team at BIFE-SIM, demonstrating to the visitors of the stand.

And Krishan Fares, Felder's biggest avowed fan of Felder machines, doesn't miss a year of BIFE-SIM without demonstrating the machines.

Coming back to Relu Draghici, in the following you will see how the WooDream story began, how a professional photographer came to make furniture.

INTERVIEW Felder Gruppe Romania: Relu Drăghici, WooDream, Bucharest

How did you get into this field? Where did your passion for furniture come from?

Relu Draghici: Although my professional background is as an economist, I have actually worked very little in this field. I discovered over time that I actually find much more satisfaction from creative activities. It was more than 10 years ago that I discovered my passion for photography, which has turned into a way of life and a core activity. For most of our acquaintances, the transition from photography to furniture design seems illogical, but for me it's not, it's just another way to express my creativity, to transform and compose visually appealing things from less aesthetically appealing elements. Ultimately it's all about aesthetics and there are even common technical principles, such as the rule of thirds often applied in photography, but also in architecture. Incidentally, I know of several colleagues who have discovered a passion for working with wood.

What exactly do you produce?

Relu Draghici: We want to produce only wooden furniture, but we admit that we have not refused projects made of MDF, which is also processed using traditional methods and then painted. Our production volume is not high at the moment, especially as it's just the two of us and we're still quite active in photography, we don't rush things, we let things evolve naturally.

What was the first piece of furniture you made?

Relu Draghici: In the studio I set up at home, the first piece of furniture I created was a project - certainly ambitious for my level at the time - a dressing table for my wife. I fondly remember showing her the project and she looked at me in disbelief, arguing (justifiably) that I had not yet made a banal box, how could I tackle such an ambitious project? In the end, it turned out pretty well, and she still uses it with pleasure.

How did you come to work with Felder Gruppe Romania?

Relu DraghiciWhen we decided to do this professionally, the first company we turned to was Felder Gruppe Romania. From previous documentation we had learned that Felder is one of the most respected manufacturers of woodworking equipment, so we stepped on their doorstep in the desire to discover their offerings. What's worth mentioning is that we didn't even end up researching other manufacturers' offers! There's something about the atmosphere there that makes you feel like you become part of a family, and not just a buyer-seller relationship. That's what we felt from the very first meetings and it was confirmed by subsequent events. As we come from a field where the personal relationship with the customer is extremely important, we appreciate very much when we find the transparency, openness and warmth that we try to offer to our customers and that we also found at Felder Gruppe Romania!

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Read the full interview here. Relu talks about the first piece of furniture he made for his wife, how the Felder machines help him in production, and what his future plans are.

The interview with Relu Draghici is part of the Felder stories campaign which you can read here.