Lahngut farm encompasses 2.5 hectares of orchards and is situated in Niederlana (300 metres above sea level) south of Meran. Niederlana is famous for its parish church featuring a Late Gothic winged altar by the painter and sculptor Hans Schnatterpeck and belongs to the largest apple cultivating area in South Tyrol. This farm is a base for pleasant walks and is ideally placed for cyclists. Karlheinz Windegger has set up his wood turning workshop on the ground floor of the house with views of the orchards. Its centrepiece is the cast iron wood turning lathe, where the keen wood turner creates his varied range of unique wooden items.

“It is uneven, irregular things that fascinate me“, explains Karlheinz Windegger. The interesting texture of hardwood, a knotty grafting place in apple wood, a gnarled old block of wood: wood as nature made it is what the 50-year-old farmer likes to work with. He says, “Handwork is able to express these irregularities particularly well. Smooth surfaces, on the other hand, are associated with factory production“. Windegger began artistic wood turning in 2005 and since then the passion for this craft has not left him. He spends a lot of time in his workshop, especially in the winter months, and the items he creates are testament to his commitment. Countless hours of manual labour go into his elaborate pieces. “It is a real passion of mine”, states Windegger, who has been running his small turnery since 2009.

Every item from Karlheinz Windegger’s workshop is a one-off. As he is surrounded by apple orchards, apple wood is naturally one of his favourite types of wood, but he also enjoys working with cherry, nut, ash and beech from the farm’s forests. He produces his small works of art mainly by cutting crossways through the wood fibres. The form that the wood will take on in the end only becomes clear with time. When making bowls and vases, Windegger first rotates the outer form and then hollows it from the inside out. The wood turner describes his method of working: “I let the wood dictate which shape it should take on”. Carrying out this type of handcraft requires a lot of patience. “The important thing is to work with the wood and not against it”.

The shapes and colours of wood stimulate the wood turner’s imagination and creativity. His products range from wooden jewellery to wooden balls, bowls and fruit and large and small vases. “What interests me is the variety, and not so much the useful objects as the artistic side of things”, Karlheinz Windegger stresses. Once finished, each item receives the finishing touch: the wood is polished by hand, treated with a few drops of natural oil and receives a brief final drying. The artisan sees great potential in his work and states, “The possibilities of creating objects made of wood that are expressive and have presence are simply limitless”. His top priority: individuality.