I’m a Peruvian left handed professional wood turner that has been turning for over 15 years. I started back in the early 80s after watching a woodturning demonstration by RUDE OSOLNICK in NC STATE UNIVERSITY. I’d never seen natural edge bowls or spalted wood before and, since I worked in a wood place, it blew my mind away so I decided to become a full time wood turner. Some time later, I went to my first craft show in Raleigh, NC. I sold all my pieces and started looking for other wood turners, but I managed to find only a few. Then I decided to go back to Peru, where I was able to get a hold of wood in the rainforest, thanks to a group of Canadian loggers. I began collecting all types of wood to try them out and I found out that there was one hell of a difference between them. Eventually, with patience and hard work, I became pretty good at it. The BRITISH COUNCIL in LIMA saw my work and the director, who was also a wood turner, asked me to show my work at the BRITISH ART GALLERY. The top British craftsman, RAY KEY, came also to the show and we became pretty good friends. He taught me a lot at the exposition and soon after, I learned all about the woodturning associations and clubs, which were very few at the time. I currently rely only on the magazine FINEWOODWORKING for any news on woodturning and have been working at it since then.

Hope I didn’t bore you with this. Thanks. Ed.