Richard Erdmann knows wood. Each morning he wakes up to a world of maple, pine, oak and cherry. He opens his eyes, breathes deep and lets the smell infiltrate his lungs like a child taking in the deep aroma of a fragrant flower for the first time.
He walks through his lakeside Oconomowoc house with a hand-made wooden cross dangling around his neck (always close to his heart), and gazes lovingly at his hand-turned wooden bowls and vases. He holds up a paper-thin wood bowl that is almost see-through when the sun hits it just right.
He explains how he took a decomposing piece of a tree trunk and turned it into a beautiful gift for his wife, Lois. If you give him the time, he'll tell you the story behind each piece of wood in his house because Richard Erdmann knows wood.
As you stroll through the spacious showroom of the Erdmann's brainchild, the appropriately named World of Wood, you realize that wood is much more to Erdmann than a material that he's spent the past 55 years working with. Erdmann's life is wood, and his passion is woodturning.
"I can talk all day when it comes to wood," says Erdmann. In a time when technology is honed like an endangered species, Erdmann will admit that at age 73 he doesn't know how to turn on a computer. But he can take a green, rotted piece of wood and "turn" it into a masterpiece.
"When I was in high school, I had two periods a day of woodworking for four years," he remembers. "Then I started working for three old Germans. You had to make everything by hand. There were no machines like there are today. There wasn't even ballpoint pens or hot glue. We used to sit with warmers under the glue, and have to even warm the wood. It's so different now."
Different, but nonetheless fascinating for Erdmann. Retired for six years from World of Wood, he still visits the workshop every day. His son, Robert, is president, but each of his nine children has worked for the family business at one time.
{INSERT_RELATED}"I'm different from a lot of other old-timers. Sometimes the kids come in and the old man is real hard-nosed, and the kids end up not wanting to get involved with the business," he cautions. "I say, 'I'm going to give you just enough rope to hang yourself.'"
For Erdmann, who has 26 grandchildren, 13 boys and 13 girls, and one great-grandchild on the way, there's no greater pride than how much his family is involved in the successful business. And successful it is: World of Wood has been written up three times in Design Solutions, the journal of the Architectural Woodwork Institute, won numerous industry awards and caters to customers nationwide.
"I tell people, 'If you can't find anyone else who knows how to do it, come here,'" he says.
Since his "retirement" from World of Wood, Erdmann has found more time for woodturning. In early April he happily helped turn 400 wood communion bowls for a Christian youth group. He even turned for seven hours at last year's German Fest -- quite a feat for a 73-year-old.
But, then again, Richard Erdmann is full of surprises. If you're lucky enough to visit his home, there's no doubt he'll lead you up his wooden stairs into the grandchildren's play area. It is in the corner, propped up on a wooden easel, that you'll find a flat slab of wood with a poem carved on it. The poem is called "Fallen Tree," and you can only imagine who penned the words.
"Lying in the woods just rotting away, of what use could it be as we see it today?
"What's on the surface counts little as we pass by, our heads in the clouds there's no time to try.
"To find deeper beauty that is always within, waiting to be brought out with a great big grin.
"So bring out the beauty in everything you do, then everyone you meet knows your heart is true."
Richard Erdmann is a Gallery TBA featured artist. The five-week gallery, held at P.H. Dye House, 320 E. Buffalo St., will open Fri., April 25, from 5 to 9 p.m. Hosted by the Wisconsin AIDS Fund, the gallery will be open and free to the public Fridays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 3 p.m.
