When thinking of Wales, what would come into your mind? The Welsh dragon? Castles? Coal mining? Or rugby? Except for these, Bob Keen would offer you another option, the Welsh lovespoon.
When he starts talking about woods, Bob looks like a little boy who is proud of his toy collections. Originally from London, the 71-year-old moved to Cardiff 15 years ago after retirement. Things changed over years, but from an 11-year old boy to his early 70s, Bob’s intense affection and admiration for wood never vary.
Now working in Castle Welsh Crafts, the biggest lovespoon display in Wales, surrounded by different kinds of wood and wooden lovespoons, Bob says it feels like he’s in heaven.
Obsession with wood
If there’s one thing that Bob is obsessed with, it is wood.
“I love wood, it’s so tactile, not like metal which is cold and hard, and wood can be extremely beautiful,” Bob says with a glow and exaltation in his eyes. He effusively introduces various kinds of lovespoons in the shop.
“I got olive, sycamore, acacia, beech, birch, ash, lime, cedar, yew, lots of woods in here. Different choice of woods would present different kinds of lovespoon. Sometimes, same tree can also have different appearances. All the spoons are absolutely gorgeous.”
It’s not difficult to guess why Bob is mesmerized by wood. Unlike the generation grow up with electronic devices, Bob spent his childhood with woods.
“As a young boy, I played with things like wooden cars. I used to make it with all my friends and we raced in the street. I was working with woods since I was about 11 and then I started to realize that wood was an element you can work in and there are so many different sorts of woods.”
As time went by, Bob didn’t give up his instinctive love for wood. He made lovespoon for his wife, little wooden chair and tables for his granddaughter and he even spent weeks to make a wooden castle for his son nearly 40 years ago.
A timber pile would mean nothing to us, whereas for Bob, he keeps waxing and polishing it when he has spare time, “It makes me feel so relaxed, my love of wood was born in me.”
The unique Welsh tradition
However, the love of wood did not make Bob a professional carver or carpenter, he spent almost two decades in London as a police officer, before that wood has always been a hobby rather than a career. Since 2002, Bob started his job in Castle Welsh Crafts and that’s when he realized that wood can offer other people a chance to explore part of Welsh culture rather than just be a pure personal interest.
“There are a few things can represent Welsh culture, but lovespoon got to be the most understandable one.”
Originated from the 17th century, it has been an old tradition for welsh peasantry to give their loved one a carved wooden spoon as a token of affection. As time goes by, love is not the only element a lovespoon can carry and the lovespoon itself also became a symbol of old Wales.
The lovespoon with the Welsh dragon, G clef and daffodil symbols is the one Bob called the spirit of Wales, which stands for the songs, poetry, daffodil and dragon that Wales are internationally famous for.
“A lot of people come here to buy traditional Welsh lovespoon, but some also want spoons that have unique meanings to them.”
It’s easy for Bob to come up with advice that suits customers’ needs best. He used to advise carvers to put symbols in the spoons that will mean something to Australians like kangaroo or the Canadians a maple leaf.
Although Bob only carves occasionally now, he’s always keen to tell people the story behind lovespoon and Welsh culture.
“With foreign visitors and tourists coming in all year round, it’s nice more and more people would know the romantic part of old Wales.”
