Rus Ioachim

In the village of Dănești, in Șurdești Commune, Ioachim Mihai Rus turned a natural pull toward wood into a craft entirely his own. Self-taught since 2015, guided by instinct rather than inherited technique, he now shapes oak, fir, beech, linden, walnut, maple and plum into gates, wayside crosses, religious and traditional furniture, wooden annexes and gazebos — choosing each species for its purpose, favoring straight-grained, knot-free wood, and setting aside timber like curly maple, whose wavy grain resists the chisel, or dried cherry, too brittle to trust.

His wood is harvested with an eye to the old calendar: winter cutting, under a full moon, when the sap has withdrawn and the timber holds its shape rather than cracking or warping, as summer-cut wood tends to do. He works with an axe and chisels — bought from the store, though the chisels themselves come from local blacksmiths — beginning each piece with modern tools for the rough, primary work, then finishing entirely by traditional hand technique. Among his more specialized skills is the traditional craft of hand-splitting wooden shingles (drănițe), made with purpose-built tools.

His gates and crosses speak in a rich vocabulary of symbols: the flower of life, the sun in motion, the star and the North Star, the seed, the rope of life, and the Celtic and plain cross adorned with laurel leaves, the chalice, sun and moon, and the carved figure of Jesus. His religious furniture carries its own geometric language — the flower of life and the water’s wave — while his household pieces stay close to the domestic world: food platters in walnut, cherry and beech, vessels in walnut and alder, troughs in poplar and willow, and spoons carved from grey willow, linden and birch. Among his most distinctive creations are miniature scenes carved to fit inside transparent glass bottles — a small ladder, a Dacian knot, a spindle, a sweep well — alongside keyrings bearing the flower of life and the moving sun.

Ioachim is a member of the Artizana MM Association and takes part in craft fairs and exhibitions both in Romania and abroad, working on commissions from customers at home and from further away. Visitors are welcome at his workshop, where his pieces are also displayed and sold, and he speaks Italian and English, making him easy to talk to for international guests. He can be found on Facebook as “Ioachim Mihai Rus,” and on TikTok as “meșterul ioachim.”