Peter Šugár
Michal Hanula is a graduate of the Secondary Applied Arts School Kremnica. Hanula studied at the School of Arts of the University of Technology in Košice. Later, he became a teacher at the department of toys and decorative objects of the Secondary Applied Arts School in Ružomberok. Hanula teaches students traditional techniques. The school helps him to cross the lines and discover new methods. He has become an established designer with unique opinions. His creative work can be described as craft-based design. In addition to wood, he works with other materials such as wire, metal and combination thereof.
Craft forms an important part of Michal´s work. His grand-father introduced craft to him as a child. Michal likes experimenting and identifying new, better procedures leading to a required result. Old masters did it the same way. Michal admits without shame that he often works with machines. Although he knows traditional procedures, he uses experiments to find practical use for such old methods which, on the other hand, defines his creative vocabulary.
Organised in the Design Studio ÚĽUV in Bratislava, the latest exhibition of Michal Hanula presents interior accessories and utility objects/dining items from wood. Michal has recently engaged himself in wood, which does not in any way indicate that he would abandon other materials. Tinkery is a craft that he does not stop to like and he considers returning to. Besides, he finds horn material as interesting to work with. For him, it is a material with creative potential and he believes it would be useful to avoid horn to go to waste. Many displays are unfinished pieces that wait to be re-created into new objects. The exhibition presents Michal´s recent work and various approaches and methods of wood processing.