He grew up in Marianka near Bratislava, close to the mountain, and so as a boy he carved bows, whistles, and other children’s toys. His father Jozef Jánoš, in addition, began producing split wooden doves and lamp shades in the 1950s thanks to his colleague Vincent Vrábel from the Research Institute of Engineering Structures, so even young Milan Jánoš did not have to go far to try his hand at woodworking upon returning from basic military service.

The beginnings were challenging, but learning alongside his father eventually allowed him to tackle more difficult tasks. His first products were approved by the artistic commission of ULUV (Crafts and Art Association of Slovakia) in the mid-80s. While his father mainly made lampshades together with his mother, he focused on making doves, peacocks, and goldfinches. An example of his more recent work is his small wooden doves connected by their beak, which serve as Christmas decorations.

“For me, the raw material for production is pine wood. The best wood is the one closest to the bark since it has the densest growth rings, and it runs parallel, making it easy to split. We used to go to the military forests in Malacky for wood. However, they won’t let you in there today. But I have a good relationship with the owner of a sawmill in Záhorie, who allows me to choose the wood I need. So once or twice a year I procure materials this way,” Milan Jánoš explains about the starting material.

He lets fresh wood dry for a few weeks in a shady place and then stores it in the ventilated attic of his house. Before starting work, he planes the wood and cuts it into strips of the required size, which he then boils for 3-4 hours to extract resin. This process makes the wood more flexible and easier to shape into thin slices after splitting.

To minimize wood breakage, he soaks the wood in water before proceeding with the rest of the work on the wooden bird. He devotes time to various tasks – such as crafting the bodies or wings, sanding, burning eyes or decorations with heated wires of different thicknesses, and splitting the wings and tail to a certain length of the strip and then stretching them out. If the split slices are stretched from the bottom, the tail is rounded from bottom to top, as with the dove; if from the top, the tail is curved the opposite way from top to bottom, as with the goldfinch. The tail and wings are mostly made of 15-18 slices, stitched together for better stability. In the past, a red thread was used at ULUV, but later Milan Jánoš was allowed to switch to natural thread. The body and tail of the bird are made from a single piece of wood, with wings attached from another piece.

All he needs for work is a sharp knife. He has several, all made by himself from quality steel, as a former machinist who worked with iron his whole life, and he also sharpens them himself. His work rhythm in bird production, which is a form of relaxation for him, is mainly tied to winter. In summer, he doesn’t have as much time besides working in the garden.

He was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art Production in 2014 for his original work in wooden production.

Source: Mikolaj, Tomáš: Majstri nového milénia [online]. Bratislava: Ústredie ľudovej umeleckej výroby, 2020 [cit. 2024-05-29]. Available at: https://uluv.sk/kniznica/digitalna-kniznica/