Stian Korntved Ruud is hand carving a wooden spoon every day for a year
Norwegian designer Stian Korntved Ruud has committed to carving one spoon per day for a year to explore the forms that are possible using different types of wood (+ slideshow).
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Stian Korntved Ruud coupled the niche but growing pastime of traditional spoon carving with the recent trend for "365 projects" – where participants do something every day for a year and share the results through social media channels.
He has already carved 135 spoons from 20 types of wood over 19 weeks. "365 seemed like a reasonable number of days and spoons if I really wanted to immerse myself in something like this," Korntved Ruud told Dezeen.
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_17.jpg)
Having spent a year exploring the organic qualities of wood and investigating how hand-carving can work with those qualities – as opposed to machine carving – the project seemed like a logical next step for the designer.
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_18.jpg)
"I have always worked a lot with my hands, but my fascination with wood probably comes from my family of wood lovers – my Danish woodcarving grandfather and my nature-loving father," he said.
"I carved my first spoons a couple of months ago and thought it would be a nice object to use to experiment with different wood species and shapes."
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_15.jpg)
Each spoon starts with an idea or sketch, followed by the hunt for a suitable piece of wood. "I start to carve with a suitable tool," Korntved Ruud explained.
"If there is a lot of wood to remove I use a big tool like an axe. For more refined shaping I use spoon knifes, gouges and Japanese kogatana knives."
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_16.jpg)
"It does not always succeed on the first attempt, so a sketch often results in several spoons," he continued. "I also use twisted pieces of wood that make themselves – I just follow the grains and patterns inherent in the wood."
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_14.jpg)
Using traditional techniques, each spoon takes between half an hour and three hours to carve, depending on the complexity of the design and the type of wood.
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_13.jpg)
"I use all the types of wood I get hold of," said Korntved Ruud. "Much of it is gathered from the nearby woods or when I'm traveling around the world. I usually have my folding saw in my backpack ready."
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
He still has 230 spoons and over seven months to go.
"There are a lot of highs, like when I get hold of a new kind of wood I have newer carved before, or I get a new tool or restore an old one so I can make new shapes," he said. "So far there have been no lows, besides some stitches in my left hand."
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
Korntved Ruud is currently looking for a gallery where he can show the final 365 spoons together when the collection is complete and hopes to make a book about the project.
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
"At the end of the year, I expect to have sore fingers and a big bunch of spoons which I hope will show a evolution of forms and techniques," he added.
![Daily Spoon by Stian Korntved Ruud](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/08/Daily-Spoon-by-Stian-Korntved-Ruud_dezeen_468_5.jpg)