Ingrained passion for wood

Maria Priestly
EXUBERANT is how Emil Baer describes his artwork - which is fitting, as he's an exuberant man.
"My pieces have personality," said the buoyant Rissington artist, reflecting on his unique sculptural woodwork.
Emil is one of eight artists from Hawke's Bay and Taupo with works in the Art la Carte exhibition this weekend, hosted by gourmet chef Malcolm Redmond at Breckenridge Lodge (off Omarunui Rd) in Taradale.
It was a common love of art, food and wine that led Emil, Malcolm and Taupo artists Robbie and Sue Graham to launch the exhibition last year. It proved so popular they decided to make it an annual event.
Emil, originally from Zurich, Switzerland, says his art is "a part of who I am".
"I do it with passion - it makes me happy and it comes from here," he says, patting his chest.
"Passion" is a word that features consistently in Emil's vocabulary - and it's something that appears regularly through his lively eyes, friendly smile and animated speech. It's passion that comes through when Emil talks about many things, such as wine, cooking, friends and art, and it's passion that Emil puts into every piece of art he makes - whether it's a practical, useful piece of furniture, a sculpture or a definitive statement piece.
"Every single piece is a one-off, every piece is different. I don't think I could make the same piece twice - and I wouldn't want to."
With "more ideas than I'd ever be able to make", Emil is constantly sketching, drawing and designing. "At the bottom of my heart I'm actually a cartoonist. Drawing comes naturally to me.
"From the moment I could hold a pencil, I could draw." After Emil studied at the School of Applied Arts, Zurich, he worked as a cabinetmaker for many years and later started his own business, increasingly specialising in his unique one-off solid timber furniture pieces.
After having had enough of the "rat race" in Switzerland - "You need a huge turnover there to make a living, I wanted a slower pace of life" - he moved to Christchurch in 1990. Wanting to move closer to the Wellington and Auckland markets, "but not in the cities", he moved to Napier in 1996 after "I fell in love with Hawke's Bay".
He designed and helped build his current "dream" home in Rissington , filled it with his own designs and created his purpose-built studio.
Emil, who has clients throughout New Zealand and back in Switzerland, said each piece he makes is a "statement".
"Each product is realised with thorough technical knowledge and respect for the natural properties of wood."
A collector of unusual timbers in variety and shape, Emil often combines and contrasts different woods into one piece, and sometimes adds complementary materials such as glass and metals - "but my heart belongs to wood".
He can spend up to 11 weeks working on one piece, and polishes every one with an oil finish to "show off what the wood does naturally".
Inspired by "everything - wherever I look I see something that inspires me", Emil said his style is not confined to a particular genre.
"I am influenced by many things but I would not call my work European or Pacific or anything. My style, my work - it's just me."
With his love of cartoons and quirky, lively humour, each piece of work has a humorous, comical touch.
Fred, a stereo cabinet with Oamuru stone feet, got its name by being reminiscent of something from The Flintstones.
"It's got such a stone feel. While I was working on it, without telling them its name, two people started humming The Flintstones tune when they saw it."
Then there's the Junior chair, to demonstrate the stance of which Emil got up and slouched like a young delinquent, and there's the tomb-like liquor cabinet The Spirit Within, sold at last year's exhibition.
"I try to have not-too-serious approach to my work. I like to have a bit of fun with it."
"My pieces are not something you buy and put in a corner to forget about it. It's something that should make you happy every time you look at it. I like to give people a bit of happiness."
This year's pieces in the exhibition are Rewind, a "winged" coffee table, and El Bulli, a creation inspired by a restaurant near Barcelona - a chest of drawers consisting of 94 separate pieces, all individually polished and made of matai, maple, recycled jarrah, black walnut and Southland beech.
The process of making the often intricate, delicate and large-scale pieces can be repetitive and tiresome but Emil said it always makes him smile.
"I have to be so disciplined, meticulous and patient but I try to keep the fun in it."
"If you haven't got the passion, you could not spend days on end sanding ... hours and hours doing the same thing. I'm exhausted in the evening, but I can't wait for the next day to come around so I can start again. Without that passion I couldn't do it."
To contact Emil Baer email: emilsemail@clear.net.nz