Slawomir Weremkowicz, a 59-year-old former plumber from Poland, creates functional bicycles using only wooden components.
The talented woodcarver from Biala Podlaska says he had always wanted to be an artist, and since God gave him the talent of carving wood, he he thought he should do something amazing with it. So he decided to go greener than green and create a series of wooden bikes for which he didn’t use a single gram of metal or plastic. Simply looking at a piece of wood, Slawomir can already envision how he’s going to turn it into one of his bicycle parts, and using simple woodcarving tools like chisels and saws he does just that.
The seat, steering, even the pedals and chain are made only from a variety of wood (oak, ash, beech and plywood) and if you’re looking for screws holding them together, don’t bother, as Slawomir Weremkowicz only uses wooden pegs. Carving an entire wood bicycle is a lengthy process which takes about a year, but when he looks at his completed “wooden dinosaurs”, as he likes to call them”, Slawomir doesn’t regret the time he puts into his work.
Weremkowicz is the only man in the world to create functional bicycles entirely from wood, his works have been exhibited at galleries and museums in Poland, and one of them was given to the ambassador of the Netherlands. Slawomir himself rides one of his wooden bicycles, every day.
