Deep in the hart of the 9th Region, in the beautiful rural city of Villarrica lives the wood carver Héctor Bascuñan with his wife Laura and their 5 children. Here he leads a successful workshop, passing on his vast knowledge of wood carving to 4 young men who function as his apprentices. This Region is the center of the wood carving tradition of Chile with big areas of native forests spread out on perilous hills. Altough Héctor is today considered to be the foremost in he country, interestingly enough he does not descend from a long line of wood carvers like most wood carvers in the area. Instead, Héctor is the son of a local farmer. His fathers land bordered with the land of a local anthropologist, Ruperto Vargas, and this is the reason Héctor became a wood carver instead of following in his fathers footsteps.

By the end of the 60´s Mr. Vargas brought to Villarrica a group of wood and bone carvers from Easter Island. The idea was to give a new inspiration to the wood carvers of the area, increasing the overall quality and artistic expression and thus make the craft produced more commercially competitive . In those days, craft was very badly paid and even the best crafters lived under very poor conditions, a situation that has not begun to revert until recent years.

When the project ended, all but one Easter Island carver returned home. The one who decided to stay in Villarrica was Patricio Paté. He settled on Ruperto Vargas land and soon met the boy Héctor who was intrigued by this strange man from far away. Patricio introduced Héctor to wood carving, teaching him about wood and the different instruments necessary to create the desired shape.

Héctor soon started carving and when reaching manhood he made this his full time occupation but, although very skillful, he always regarded wood carving more a livelihood than a craft. It should not be until in 1999 this would change. Héctor was then selected to participate in a project where skillful crafters were paired with interesting designers. This was an attempt by the Catholic University’s Crafts Program to increase the value of local crafts. Héctor was paired with the Swedish Architect and designer Anette Fürst. She taught him how to appreciate the lines in animals, nature and traditional bowls and utensils of the area and then through a stylizing process, create a personal interpretation of the observed.

This awakened the artist within Héctor. He makes today a clear difference, dividing his life as a crafter, in the “Before Anette” and “After Anette” periods. Today he considers himself an artist and finds his greatest joy in creating new designs and refining those he has already created. In 2008 he received International recognition for the oputstanding quality and design of his products being awarded with two UNESCO Seals of Excellence for his bowls “Canoa Plátano” and “Pocillo Atravesado”.

His work can be found in the store “Foike” in Providencia, Santiago, and in local markets.