Patrick Damiaens – Grinling Gibbons Photos

detail photo of a Liège style crest — photo: with permission of Patrick Damiaens

Patrick lives in Maaseik, Belgium and is the only full-time ornamental woodcarver in Flanders. His specialty is carving ornamentation for Liège-style furniture, the classic designs from the city of Liège, originating in the 17th century. His woodcarving education includes several years of study at the Don Bosco Institute in Liège, followed by yet more at the Sint-Jansberg College in Maaseik. He works today with several men who build furniture, staircases, cupboards, etc.; he then carves the ornamentation. The carvings on Liège-style furniture aren’t the high-relief style of Gibbons, but do demonstrate remarkable carving ability.

2 photos of a Liège style chest of drawers and a hunting trophy — photo: with permission of Patrick Damiaens

photo of a Liège style cabinet — photo: with permission of Patrick Damiaens

In addition to those beautiful cabinets, there’s a “trophy” carving, themed for hunting, hanging on the wall. We’ll get to trophy carvings a bit further down the page.

Heraldic carvings

My first awareness of Patrick came from discovering another line of his work, heraldic carvings. These have the depth and layered construction that derives from Gibbons. Would you like to have your own coat of arms? Patrick can carve it for you.

photo of Patrick Damiaens — photo: with permission of Patrick Damiaens

photo of a hearld — photo: with permission of Patrick Damiaens

More like Gibbons

More “Gibbonsy,” as David Esterly likes to say, is Patrick’s “over door” carving that was commissioned by a dentist. Patrick formed the vertical drops in the trophy genre. “Trophy” carvings combine related objects, be they musical instruments, weapons of war, or in this case, dentistry tools. By the way, there’s a trophy carving of hunting objects on the wall above that Liège cabinet in the photo above.