“What fascinates me about wood carving?“, Herbert Kerschbaumer doesn’t have to think too hard. “The fact that your own hands have the power to make an attractive sculpture out of a nondescript piece of wood”, answers the native of Feldthurns. He has been carving wood for over 25 years and learnt his trade in St. Ulrich in Gröden, the cradle of South Tyrolean wood carving. “This ancient handcraft is not just a hobby for me, but my vocation – an enjoyable, but also serious, business”, stresses Kerschbaumer as he strokes a piece of old wood and thinks about what he could carve out of it. “With time you develop a feel for which type of wood, whether soft or hard, is good for what and what you could carve out of a whole tree trunk, for example”, explains the young wood carver, who also holds wood carving courses in his workshop.