Venetian artist Livio De Marchi transforms the world around him into detailed wooden replicas. It’s something like the Midas touch, but instead of gold, the many objects that De Marchi touches turn to wood. From a very young age, the Italian artist has proven to be an incredibly talented sculptor. As he developed his skills, he experimented with materials such as marble, then bronze, ultimately turning his full attention to wood.
De Marchi uses a hundred varieties of chisel and an old hammer to carve the softest of objects into detailed wooden replicas, anything from a basket of teddy bears to a cushy leather chair. The artist is quite well known for his House of Books, an entire house made out of wood–everything from the plush couch to the clothes hanging in the closet–and he does not believe in painting his final pieces because he enjoys the natural beauty of the grain and the knots in the plain wood.
If you like this work, check out the video below, where De Marchi proves to be the only man who can drive in Venice!
