Ok, I confess, even the maestro and I have our preferences: it's true that everything offered in our shop and in the online shop is carefully chosen by us and therefore, in any case, finds a certain correspondence with us; but it is also true that, among the items we have for sale, we have our favorites. And so, given that Christmas is upon us, and given that in this case the master and I go hand in hand when it comes to nativity themed preferences, today I want to tell you a few words about our favorite nativity scene: it is a carved and painted wooden nativity scene, handmade with oil colors in Val Gardena and takes its name from its legendary creator: Kastlunger.
Harald Kastunger is defined as a giant of the imagination, a harlequin of the spirit; musician, pastry chef, sculptor, painter, he is in permanent search of that passion by which man is stimulated since birth and which is able to lead him to a state of authentic happiness. Harald Kastlunger is a cyclops of creativity, both in art and in his beliefs about existence.
His nativity scene is an expression of his personality, of his life, of his search for him. Some might define it as a bizarre nativity scene, due to the particularity of some figurines; it certainly isn't a traditional nativity scene, but we fell in love with some of its characters:
The sleeping shepherd with the angel who wakes him by the hat deserves special mention both for the ingenuity used to produce these two figures and for the stupendous design; looking at this figurine one cannot help but think that as soon as we look elsewhere, the shepherd will actually jump up upon realizing the birth of Baby Jesus.
Another beautiful figure is that of the shepherd pulling the ram who really has no intention of proceeding on the path: here too, the miracle of balance between the shepherd, who is completely intent on pulling the goat and is therefore completely unbalanced on the stick, and the goat that seems to literally pull from a completely different direction creates a scene with an impressive dynamism: in short, they are statues, but they really seem to be moving...
I could go on telling you statue by statue, character by character, all the specifics of each subject, both expressive and in terms of meaning and creative genius, but I don't want to go on and take away the surprise. This is why we are waiting for you in the store and on our social channels: Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp where day by day starting from December 1st we will discover together a new character from this beautiful series that we love very much.
While waiting to discover all the characters together, I leave you with the description of his Herald Kastlunger nativity scene, which I believe wonderfully summarizes everything that this nativity scene represents for us too:
I firmly believe that Christmas, a celebration of peace and a bringer of peace, represents much more than a moment of magical atmosphere.
The richness of the characters manifests itself as a feast for the eyes and consequently as an exultation of the soul for the incredible event that is the birth of Christ.
It is with this spirit that - distancing myself from clichés, traditional patterns and kitsch - I try to infuse my figures with the distinctive characteristics of genuineness, the archaic accent of a full awareness of earthly existence.
The sense of participation finds its expression in the language of the hands and in the movements, intended to convey to the observer the extraordinary grandeur of the event.
Herald Kastlunger
