The “Natural wood block print” workshop explores block printing through the natural fragments of solid wood. Traditionally, craftspeople carve woodblocks to create images, words, or patterns. Instead of carving a predetermined design, the experience begins with naturally split wood fragments, embracing the material’s grain, textures, and irregularities.
Using simple carving knives, participants learn to carve along the grain and transform each fragment into a unique printing block. By combining different blocks, custom patterns take shape, revealing how the natural properties of wood can guide the creative process.
The workshop invites participants to explore the relationship between human intervention and the material itself, finding new possibilities in the forms that nature provides.
Didi Ng Wing Yin (b. 1989, Hong Kong) is an artist and maker based in Helsinki, Finland. Working primarily with wood, his practice explores materiality, transformation, perception, and the relationship between human intervention and material agency. Through splitting, carving, and surface manipulation, NG engages with wood’s inherent structures and natural irregularities, allowing the material to guide each work’s evolution rather than adhering to a predetermined form.
Evolving from a background in industrial and furniture design towards a material-led, sculptural approach, NG treats craft knowledge and the act of making as modes of artistic inquiry. He holds an MA in Interior Architecture with a major in Furniture Design from Aalto University. His work has received international acclaim, including selection as a finalist for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2025, winner of the Dezeen Emerging Designer of the Year Award 2024, and winner of the Rising Star of the Year Award at the Scandinavian Design Awards 2024.