THE V.L.A.D. CREATIONS STORY
My journey with wood
began at home.
The story of V.L.A.D. Creations began long before it had a name. It began in my childhood, in Dorna Arini, beside my father, teacher and craftsman Mihai Vleju.
He gave me my first lessons in working with wood, and a love for what can emerge from a seemingly ordinary piece. Watching him work, I learned to read the grain, respect the material and be patient with every detail. That passion took root naturally, through time spent together and the example he set.
My father has devoted much of his life to art, education and preserving the traditions of the Dorna region. He has guided generations of children in wood and bone carving, and collected, studied and preserved objects that tell the stories of the people here. His ethnographic collection, “The Forest, Cradle of Civilisation of Dorna’s Freeholders”, holds years of work and a deep commitment to passing this heritage on.
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I grew up close to this world. As a child, I entered many traditional craft competitions, earning recognition at county and national level. The joy of finishing a piece, and the excitement of presenting it, were among my first experiences of trusting my own hands.
Tradition also came with music and movement. From the age of ten until I was twenty, I danced with the Brădulețul Ensemble in Dorna Arini. Rehearsals, performances and traditional dress were part of my formative years. They gave me the joy of belonging to a place and sharing its customs with others.
Then life took me far from home.
I spent almost seventeen years in the United Kingdom. They were years of work, responsibility and learning, during which I built a career and strengthened the principles I live by: keeping my word, respecting people and seeing things through. Life abroad helped me grow and taught me how much effort goes into work done well.
Throughout those years, carving remained somewhere in the background. My childhood passion seemed to have faded, covered by the pace of life and other responsibilities.
Coming home brought me the joy of finding it again.
I sometimes think of Santiago in The Alchemist, and the journey that helps him recognise the value of the treasure connected to the place he left behind. I, too, needed those years away to see what I had received at home with fresh eyes. I returned with experience, a firmer sense of my principles and the pride of being able to build something here, close to my family.
When I began working with wood again, I recognised that old joy. It was still there, in the gestures, in the attention to form and in the desire to see a piece completed.
V.L.A.D. Creations grew from that rediscovery.
Today, every piece brings together what my father taught me, the experience I gained abroad and my own creative explorations. I work with respect for the natural forms of wood and the traditional motifs I grew up with, finding a place for them in objects made for life today.
Being able to work alongside my father again gives this homecoming a special meaning. We have time to exchange ideas, look at a piece together and carry on a bond that began many years ago.
For me, the workshop is where our family story continues, through what we make with our hands.
