Last week, I was incredibly moved by a talk given by an Austrian man, who makes wooden houses. To be honest, I was sent the link by friend ages ago, and it looked so boring I didn´t bother to click on it until my pricking conscience finally had its way.
Why did it have me in tears by the end?
To me, the inspiration for his success articulates a core message to all humankind, and the story of it is so beautiful I would like to try to retell it here. Dr Erwin Thoma grew up in a little village near Salzburg, and his childhood dream was to look after the forests so he became a Forester. His first job was to look after a forest high in the Austrian Alps, where he lived with his wife in a little cottage with no electricity and far from civilization. One day two men appeared at the door and asked if they search his forest for a special tree. They were violin makers from the Mittenwald – an area in southern Germany famous for violin making since the 18th century. They were looking for a tree that would be perfect for making violins, but these trees are not easy to find. It had to be a Fichte (a certain type of Fir), and a certain size and age. It also had to have very even growth rings of a certain size.
Thoma watched as the two men, with no tools or machinery wandered amoungst the trees tapping and listening, tapping and listening… he thought they were crazy, and would never find anything at that rate, and in that way. He left them to go and do some jobs, and they arranged to meet again in the evening. To his utter astonishment, that evening as he approached them, Thoma realised that the two men were very excited and had obviously had some success. Excitedly, they led him to a hill on top of which was an enormous, beautiful Fichte, at least 200 years old. This, they assured him, was the perfect tree – a one in a thousand. They were convinced they had struck gold. Thoma sold them the tree, and as he started to fell it, he wondered whether the tree-rings would in fact be exactly even and the right size. How could these men possibly know, without tools of any sort? When finally the great trunk fell, and they inspected the stump, Thoma was amazed to see that indeed the tree was exactly as the men had described – an absolute perfect specimen, that by luck and good placement had grown perfectly evenly for over 200 years on that lonely mountain top.
The men took the wood they needed and disappeared out of Thoma´s life. Over the next months, he felled other trees from that same area, though none quite so perfect. These trees were sent to a factory to make wood pellets that in turn would be made into cheap furniture designed to last only a short while so that customers would have to buy again ensuring that the financial growth targets of the furniture company would be met. Thoma realised that had he not sold that gracious old Fichte to the violin-makers, it too would have been sold to the cheap furniture company.
One snowy winter evening about year later, there was a once more knock on the door of the little cottage. There stood the two violin makers – with a violin case. They wanted to thank the forester for the tree. Normally, they leave wood for ten years to mature before making an instrument but this time however, the Luthiers were so excited about the beautiful wood they had found on the mountaintop, that they decided to try right away and make something. As they carefully took the violin out of the case and the gold varnish caught the soft light of the flickering fire, Thoma, who considers himself totally “unmusical” felt something move in his soul. He remembered the proud and gracious tree, and how it finally succumbed to his saw – the crack and creaking of the mighty trunk as it crashed to the ground, yet here had been born something indescribably beautiful. It almost looked alive - the varnish winked and rippled in the hands of its master. But what brought tears to his eyes, was the moment when the bow stroked the strings and a sound so beautiful, and so haunting emerged into the room, that the very soul of that old tree seemed to be speaking directly to his heart in a way that words could not.
And what he understood at that moment, was that these craftsmen had created a continuity from nature into the human world. The Fichte had been reborn into its new form, and this beautiful instrument, as well as the many other that would be made from that tree, would be a gift to mankind for many hundreds of years – just like the 300 year old Italian instruments of Stradivari or Guanieri which are still prized performing instruments today.
Soon after that life-changing evening concert, Thoma resigned his job as a forester. He realised that he hadn´t really been looking after trees at all – instead he had been working for the wood industry, whose main driver of course was money, not a love for trees.
The violinmakers had found that tree, and made that violin using ancient knowledge passed down from generations – knowledge built of long experience and a healthy respect and awe for the trees. The 27 year old Thoma went to visit his 80 year old grandfather – a carpenter and traditionally trained builder of the old-style Austrian alpine houses. In his grandfather´s traditional methodology and instinctive knowledge of the wood and trees, Thoma found his inspiration and his calling to create houses purely out of wood, free from any chemicals or unnatural substances. Houses that would last centuries, and would justify. the felling of those mighty trees.
Thoma, now well into his 60s has created one of the most successful house building companies in Austria and recieves commissions from all over the world. He uses traditional methods and no artificial components. His 100% wooden houses need only a small heater for a maximum about 10 days per year (even in the harsh Austrian winters). Otherwise, the natural wood keeps the temperature inside constant between 18 and 20 degrees throughout the year. Just like in the native forests of Germany, these wooden houses regulate the climate within their walls.
The violins and the houses are here to stay, just like the trees they were made from. We don´t own them, just like we don´t own this planet. We have the tremendous good fortune, however, to use them for a while before passing them on intact and beautiful to our children.
Just like the planet.