Mountain people: Doru

Doru is an artist. An artist whose eyes smile and whose heart warms every time his hands work. I have never seen a man who worked with such joy before! He is the last of several generations of craftsmen born and raised in Nucșoara.

His workshop is located on the edge of the village, where the fir forest begins to climb towards the mountain tops. When you enter, you feel like you’ve stepped into another time. Technology seems out of place here. Hundreds of tools that have known their place for decades and the burning embers furnace await their master.

I came to Doru and told him about how big our dreams are. How we want to build a fairytale house, where every thing is unique: doors, wardrobes, beds, doorknobs and window latches. That’s all we needed! He worked day and night. He sanded the wood, decorated it with popcorn and painted it. He heated the iron in the fire, hammered it and shaped it. He loves to work, although he lost most of his fingers in this workshop. However, he did not lose his skill and love for the job that he learned from his father.

I can consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to see with my own eyes how iron is beaten and heated in the fire, how beautiful things take shape, made with and from the heart.