"I've spent half my life carving in the cellar!"
In Josef Mörtenhuemer's cellar, around 30 Perchten masks are waiting to be used at various events.
"Stoana Sepp", as the locals call the man from Mondsee, has hand-carved around 70 masks so far - and finds it hard to part with them.
He was travelling in the Gastein Valley on business when his interest in carving larvae was sparked. "At some point, I thought to myself: I can do that too." As a trained carpenter, Mörtenhuemer was already familiar with working with wood. Since then, countless hours have passed in which Sepp works on the magnificent pieces in his workshop. "I've spent half my life in the cellar," he smiles.
When does he carve? "When it makes me happy." No commissioned work, just as the mood takes him. He spends up to 40 hours on a mask, some of which end up weighing 20 kilograms. "With the fur and the bells, you can end up carrying around 40 kilograms. Not everyone can handle that."
Mörtenhuemer has already carved around 70 masks, with around 30 of them stored in the cellar. "It's a joy when the larva is finished and you know you've done everything yourself. But then you don't want to give it away, that's the stupid thing about it." That's why he rarely sells one. "If someone really wants one, then yes. One bar owner wanted two, and a Russian holidaymaker also wanted to buy one. "Don't ask me how the Russian brought them home."
The man for the big and rough
"I'm the man for the big and rough," he laughs, and that's exactly how he carves his masks: rough, big, unadulterated. The most expensive parts are the horns, many of which come from ibexes. He once got hold of some from an African waterbuck at Vienna's Naschmarkt. And just recently, a butcher friend called him and offered him the horns of a bighorn sheep. "That's how you always get something." His wife Christine can confirm this: "It adds up a lot over the years. We need to clear out, but he can't part with anything."
"I find peace and quiet when I'm carving"
To balance out the rough Perchten masks, Sepp is passionate about carving angel figures out of one piece of wood. He recently sold a life-size angel. "If I had known beforehand that the buyer was a millionaire, I would have asked far more," smiles Sepp, who knows better than anyone that his work is difficult to put a monetary value on. "It's just a great joy, a passion. When you're carving, you can just knock yourself out. You can do anything with wood. The idea I originally had often has nothing to do with what comes out in the end." And you can see that in the masks: no two are the same, they are all unique. As if each one had its own story to tell.
written by Andrea Vitzthum
Service
Tourism association Mondsee-IrrseeDr. Franz Müller Str. 3
5310 Mondsee
Phone +43 6232 2270
Fax machine +43 6232 2270-22
E-Mail info@mondsee.at
Web mondsee.salzkammergut.at/en
