Festival lesa
Aleš Marolt
The Kočevje forests extend to the horizon and further. They cover more than 80 % of the municipality and thus it is even more unusual that wood, this precious natural material, was so poorly taken advantage of. Because of the global and local circumstances, it almost slipped into oblivion and we could only silently watch how raw logs were leaving our forests and country. Climate changes and the globalisation crisis brought us back to understanding that wood is an excellent raw material, but needs to be used in a different way: enriched with new knowledge and forms and manufactured with new technologies in connection with the noble skills of the old masters. This was the reason that the Grammar and Secondary School Kočevje with doubtless support of Kočevje Municipality formed an initiative for the Wood Festival. The Festival became the zone to think about opportunities of our forest-covered landscape, a reminder to inhabitants about the value of the wood as natural good that is not just obvious …
We started connecting with entrepreneurs in our region, with scientists from Slovenia and abroad. We have been raising awareness and changing our relationship to the forest and wood, so we can be more and more proud of them. Together with Kočevski les, Regional Chamber of Craft Ribnica and Handicraft Cooperative In situ we are weaving a regional forest-wood net, so that our new pride gets naturally accompanied by knowledge and skill of woodworking that will be successfully sold with the highest possible added value.
