relief carving design

July 25, 2026

Principles of Design in Wood Carving

Design comes before the gouge, always. 10 laws decide whether a carving reads right or reads wrong, and they cover movement, the golden ratio, four golden points, two diagonals, hero and antagonist, grow or fall, space, no repeated sizes, Fibonacci, arabesque and rhythm. My name is Alexander Grabovetskiy, and I have carved wood all my life, so what follows is the order I actually work in at the bench.