Around noontime on Wufei Street in Tainan you can hear solid strikes on wood. As you draw closer, you will see a man carving an irregularly shaped piece of wood. If you pick up a handful of the fallen wood chips you can immediately smell the fragrance of camphor. Inside the building is what appears to be a small art gallery filled with many exquisite wood sculptures, such as the Tainan sword-lion, the Jinshan snow crane, and the elephant-­headed Hindu god Ganesh. If in luck, you may even get a chance to try the hostess’s Southeast-Asian curry. This feast for the senses is courtesy of Balinese artist Made and his wife, Chakra, who jointly manage Made Carving.

Made’s wife Chakra (center) is his soulmate and number-one fan. She transforms his design concepts into text and shares them on social media.

Wood: A childhood companion

When talking about his relationship with woodcarving, Made says, “I started learning to carve wood when I was eight. Wood is part of my life.” Since Made’s father was a carpenter, his place was always littered with wood. When Made was little, he would often try out the woodcarving tools at home when his father wasn’t around. Although Made would always be found out and scolded, he never tired of it. Giving in to Made’s pleas, his father took him to visit a master woodcarver at a nearby workshop, thus sealing Made’s fate with woodcarving.

Everyday life at the workshop consisted of Made sharpening tools and cleaning the workspace for the master. It wasn’t until a month into his apprenticeship that Made got the opportunity to study woodcarving with some of the discarded wood. Made said that back then the only wood to practice on was hard ebony. Since he was in­experi­enced, he couldn’t control the force of his blade, and often ended up breaking the tool and getting scolded for it. As others began to lose patience out of boredom, they would give up. However, Made only became more motivated to learn. Even on weekends, he would head over to the workshop as soon as he finished his chores at home.

After studying for more than a year, Made finally carved his first piece of art: an ebony sculpture of Rama and Sinta, Hindu gods of love. When Made completed the sculpture, the master gave him 400 Indonesian rupiah, which today is worth less than NT$1. Nevertheless, he ran home in excitement to tell his mother and father how his teacher had rewarded him for his work.

Made excels in harnessing natural features of the wood to make his creations. He turned the grain of the wood into the feathers of this crane, making the hard wood seem soft and alive.

Traveling the world together

When he became an adult, Made decided to work for an international resort group. As he was artistically talented, his job entailed teaching silk painting. He was also a physical trainer. At the resort company, he worked a myriad of different jobs. In the end, he entered the cater­ing department as a cook.

Made’s work with the resort company took him far away from woodcarving, but also allowed him to meet a Taiwanese girl named Chakra. Despite the two working at the same resort, at first their schedules rarely matched. Once when they had a chance to share a meal together, Made considerately poured her tea even though there were servers present. He also worried that it was danger­ous for Chakra to travel alone at night. Once, after an exhausting day’s work, he accompanied her to the other side of the island to pick up some things she had asked a friend to bring to Indonesia. These kind actions moved Chakra, and the two fell in love, eventually committing to spending the rest of their lives together.

Chakra says the company would send them to a new work location every year. After the two began dating, they were fortunate enough to be assigned to the same resorts in places like Bali and Bintan in Indonesia, Malaysia’s Chera­ting, and Japan’s Ishigaki Island. They even experienced the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami when they were working in Phuket Island, Thailand. Chakra says, “Seeing so many people covered in mud and blood running to the front desk, and hearing screams everywhere, I felt I was in a war zone.”

The two were later assigned to Ishigaki Island and the Maldives. After working abroad for a decade, Chakra decided she wanted to go home. As luck would have it, she got a job in Taiwan thanks to one of her friends, and Made decided to follow his beloved in starting a new life together in Taiwan.

Made does not make sketches for his artworks. He draws inspiration from the wood itself, making intricate carvings stroke by stroke.

Taking up his carving tools again

After returning to Taiwan, Chakra often took Made to visit temples and museums. Whenever he saw a wood­carving master, Made couldn't help but strike up a conversation with them. He learned from these conversations that there was a lack of interest among young people in continuing the tradition of woodcarving in Taiwan, which only served to reignite Made’s passion for this craft.

What really got him to take up his carving tools again was when his mother-in-law came up to Taipei to visit. She saw a sculpture of a dragon’s head in Zhinan Temple and liked it so much that she asked Made to carve one for her. She later even carefully picked out the wood she wanted and sent it to him in Taipei. In order to fulfill the request, Made devoted three weeks of free time to the project. From that moment on, he delved deep into the world of woodcarving. He spent all his time after work hours carving, inching closer to his childhood dream.

In 2019, Chakra’s company ceased operations in Taiwan. Seeing Made’s dedication to woodcarving over the years, Chakra decided to give up a job opportunity in Shanghai, and Made quit his job as a head chef. The couple then returned to Chakra’s hometown in Tainan, where they founded the Made Carving studio.

Made got his inspiration for Swing the Virus Away from a swing his brother had created. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the work signals hope for the child as she swings playfully in a wooden frame that symbolizes her father’s caring love.

Trash, re-imagined

Made does not make sketches for his creations, nor does he deliberately cut the wood for a specific sculpture. He instead tries to make a piece of art that suits the wood’s original shape. He likes to joke that the carving itself is finished quickly. Mulling over what to carve and how to carve it, on the other hand, takes time.

Unlike traditional woodcarvers in Taiwan, who prefer perfectly shaped, high-quality wood, Made is attracted to wood that others find unappealing. He once installed discarded wooden washboards on two sides of a beam, carving two angels into the boards. One of the angels had a square face, with the other sporting a round face, which respectively symbolize rectitude and amenability. Made also carved the Hindu god Ganesh, on weathered wood with holes in it. The bark formed the headdress, the natural grain became the wrinkles on the elephant’s trunk, and the holes came to be the elephant’s mouth and ears. He named the piece Unlimited Ganesha.

Chakra says that Made’s carvings were more conventional when he was a child, but he has been drawing inspiration from decades of travel. Now, much of his art is impromptu. His stingray tea pick is an ode to his job in the Maldives. In a video call last year during the pandemic, Made’s younger brother in Bali showed Made a swing he had created for his daughter. Inspired by this, Made carved wood from a window frame into the shape of a father with a little girl playing on a swing. The piece symbolizes hope for the child to enjoy her life under her father’s protection despite the spread of Covid. Chakra named the work Swing the Virus Away, in hopes of getting rid of the pandemic.

Wisnu

A love for old things

In addition to making art, Made has a love for vintage items and likes to refurbish old furniture. He and Chakra collect old wooden cabinets, sand down the peeling paint to expose the wood’s original grain, and replace the broken doors with glass to transform 70-year-old kitchen cabinets into charmingly rustic display cases. Made remarks, “I ­really enjoy fixing old things. I get a sense of accomplishment from it while also giving new life to these items so they don’t just go to waste.”

Made says that he grew up in adverse circumstances, having to help at his mother’s snack stand while other children played at the temple. For Made, resources were not easy to come by, so even the smallest things had value. Since moving to Tai­nan, Made has been enjoying riding his scooter to search for treasures in the streets and alleys. When he sees someone throwing out any wood, he goes up to the owner and asks to keep it. Laughing, Made says, “Sometimes when I go to a ­sawmill or lumber yard to purchase wood, I buy two pieces and the owner gives me five more.” After discovering that Made is a woodcarver, business owners often give him extra wood for free. Made always makes sure to return the generous gesture by giving away some of his own artworks.

When he first moved to Tainan, everything felt like unknown territory. Friends and relatives encouraged the couple to produce sculptures that had mass appeal. They gave it a try, but Chakra soon realized that Made’s unplanned art was where he truly shone, so she encouraged him to carve whatever he wished. Made thus carved Ganesh in many different poses, and even playfully added a floral wreath of the kind worn by Ganesh to a statue of Lord Kuixing that he submitted to a religious statue competition. It is the ingenuity and vitality of such works that help them stand out from the crowd.

Chakra says that Made looks at wood in much the same way a child looks at a toy. Made excitedly says he wants to create something that integrates wood and a camera. While Made may be in his fifties, as soon as the conversation turns to woodcarving, his face lights up with a childlike enthusiasm. He just can’t help the urge to share the thoughts floating around in his head. It all goes to show that if one has a dream they are willing to pursue, anything is possible!   

Other people’s trash is Made’s treasure. His evocative depiction of the Hindu god Ganesh seems almost alive.

Made is thankful for every day and pursues his creative passion for wood to the fullest.