What is Wiry3?

The very first wire tree was accidentally born in the past century, November, 1995.

Well, what is Wiry3 (wiry tree…wiry three)? Works of art called Wiry3 have characteristics as follows: they are trees, made of one single copper wire. This means that if someone would disentwine such a decoration, he or she could see a wire of about 1000 metres (110 yards). The wire turns back at the tips of the branches and proceeds to the next. Depending on the size of the tree, the thickness of the wire is about 1-3 mm (0.04-0.12 inches). The wire is mostly patinated: according to the wish of the customer, I use nickel, silver or 24 carat gold coated wire.

In 1995, my room-mate, László brought a small flower made by his girlfriend from a reddish wire. I borrowed it for the next weekend with the strong determination to create a wiry bouquet. While I was bending the wire to form petals, I realised that I could create a small branch if constantly twisting the wire to the same direction. I also recognised that if I made two loops then twirl both of them as well as the lower part, I received a Y-shaped junction that was stable and well-connected as the original loops were parts of the trunk (lower part of the Y). At this point, I modified my plan to create flowers: I created several small branches at the segment that would be the flower-stalk to make a ‘foot’. Actually, I spent the whole weekend working, but Sunday evening, the great CREATION was standing on my table.

Today, it seems so clumsy, rough and instable, comparing to none of the existing tree types. But then, I liked it very much and I was very proud of my artistic affinity as a mechanical engineer to-be. I could not wait next weekend to create another piece and utilise experiences collected during the making of the first one. Step by step, I created bigger and more realistic trees.

A couple of years later, it often occurred to me that this hobby – with thousand hours of practicing – might become a financial source. I had been creating trees for about five years when I managed to participate in a fair. My works were received by the audience with unexpected interest. Many reports and interviews were made. At that time, I had already applied the actual one wire technique. It is different from the previous one as in this case, the head cannot be shaped by using pincers but it has to be designed and drawn in advance together with all the branches. The thickness of the wire and the approximate number of branches depend on the lay-out and the size of the tree.

A copper wire has the positive characteristics that it can easily be shaped, on the other hand it becomes hard after twisting, thus, it gives stiffness to the tree. As a result of that, there is no need for a skeleton or support. I have to create each and every branch remembering that I cannot modify them later. Therefore, it is crucial to make a draft in advance because that will specify the diameter of the wire. As a hairdresser works with at least ten different scissors, I have ten different pliers, each for a special task. In addition to that, the edges of these tools are rounded so that they do not hurt the soft copper wire.

Since I have started creating trees, I always carry a camera wherever I go to take a picture of interesting or special trees – a strange top here, a twisted trunk there – to give me new inspiration.

The Hungarian Patent Office protects my idea while the Hungarian Institute for Culture and Art regularly examines my works. My initials can be found on all my trees: I always twist them into the wire, hidden among the roots.