American sculptor Julian Watts, born in 1989, graduated from the University of Oregon and lives and works in Oregon, USA. As a sculpture major, Julian Watts didn’t work with wood; a job in a furniture workshop changed all that. His early, experimental practice continues to influence the maple and walnut carvings he makes today. Although many of his creations may be used as bowls, trays, and spoons, their unexpected forms challenge conventional notions of domestic objects.

Julian Watts combines traditional wood carving techniques with an experimental sculptural approach to explore the formal and conceptual intersections between the human body, the landscape, and the functional objects that we interact with everyday. This approach has continued to evolve, expanding to incorporate an entire ecosystem of abstract, biomorphic wood carvings, ranging from bowls, to furniture, to largescale, purely sculptural pieces. Julian Watts always try to fit in as many pieces as possible, and then the ideas continue to change and evolve as I carve, depending upon the grain and the shape of the wood.

Julian Watts’s affinity for exploring juxtaposition in both form and function stems from creating conceptual sculptures during his fine arts studies at The University of Oregon. Building on years of training and autodidactic mastery, Watts pushes the properties of wood in new directions. Applying a number of bespoke carpentry and furniture making techniques, he transforms this material into unexpected shapes that incorporate sharp edges and scalloped effects. This approach allows him to create works that skillfully distort perception and materiality through treatments like trompe l’oeil, but that also challenge function itself.