Andreas Maltan

“[…]Trees grow in vigor, flowers hang evanescent, and mountains lie somnolent—with meaning. The promise of sculpture is to project these inner presences into forms that can be recognized as important and meaningful in themselves.” –Isamu Noguchi¹

The Noguchi Museum Shop presents hand-carved wooden Edelweiss flowers by Andreas Maltan (b. 1966), a craftsperson based in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. 

“I certainly can’t be accused of artistic talent,” says Maltan, whose practice began with noticing the wood scraps left over by his son Christoph—a classically trained wood sculptor specializing in local traditional masks known as Loavn (Larven). Repurposing Christoph’s offcuts, Maltan began whittling the flowers as a pastime in 2017—self-teaching with online tutorials—and has since developed singular techniques to produce a range of styles. Over the years, this handiwork became a meditative practice, and eventually something Maltan felt was worth sharing with others. 

Whittling Edelweiss as a practice dates back to the 18th or 19th century in the Alps, when wood carving was at the heart of the area’s cultural expression. Born as a way to recreate the flower—whose rarity and rugged beauty had become symbolic for the region—it was said to be given by woodworkers to their companions as a token of enduring love. The craft progressively transitioned to regional keepsake in the late 1800s with the onset of Alpine tourism, becoming one of the earliest forms of proper “souvenir.”

The shape of the flower, whittled by Maltan in local Swiss pine, harmonizes with the structure of each piece of wood, almost as if following the wood’s own desire to blossom. This celebration of simple beauty is joyfully proliferated by Maltan and a handful of other craftspeople in the region, surviving across borders in the countries of the storied mountain range.

The one-of-a-kind works are available only in-person at the Museum Shop.

¹ Isamu Noguchi, A Sculptor’s World (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 40.