Making MossArtum

Some stories begin with a business plan.

Ours began around a dining table that slowly disappeared beneath pieces of wood, preserved moss and far too many ideas.

Today, every artwork we create begins in our workshop in a small Bulgarian village.

It is filled with workbenches, carving tools, machines, shelves stacked with timber and the unmistakable scent of freshly cut wood.

Whenever people ask us where MossArtum began, however, our minds never go to this workshop.

They always return to a completely different place.

A simple dining table in our living room.

Because before we had a workshop...

before we owned professional tools...

before anyone outside our family had ever heard the name MossArtum...

everything began around that table.

2016

My wife and I both had what most people would call normal lives.

I owned a small advertising agency specializing in graphic design and printed materials, while my wife worked as a civil servant.

Like many parents, we spent years working, raising our two sons and simply building a good life for our family.

Then, almost without noticing, everything changed.

Both boys left home to study.

The house became quiet.

Nothing was wrong.

Life was comfortable.

But we both felt that something was missing.

Not another holiday.

Not another television.

Not another routine.

We wanted to create something.

Something with our own hands.

Something that would make us excited to wake up on a Saturday morning.

We had no idea what that "something" would be.

Then We Discovered Moss

One day we came across a very simple home decoration.

It was nothing more than a wooden frame filled with preserved moss.

Looking back, it seems almost funny that something so simple could change the direction of our lives.

We were fascinated.

Not because of the frame itself.

Actually...

we both thought it was rather boring.

But the material...

The texture.

The colours.

The feeling of bringing a piece of nature indoors.

That was something completely new to us.

At that time there was only one importer of preserved moss in Bulgaria.

I found him.

I ordered a few boxes.

And that was the beginning.

📷 Photo

Our "workshop" in 2016.

(A dining table covered with preserved moss, scissors, glue, coffee mugs and much more enthusiasm than experience.)

A Dining Table Becomes a Workshop

We didn't own a workshop.

We didn't own woodworking machines.

In fact, we hardly owned any proper tools at all.

Every evening our dining table disappeared beneath pieces of wood, glue, moss and sketches.

We experimented constantly.

Some ideas worked.

Many didn't.

But every failed attempt taught us something new.

Quite quickly we reached one conclusion.

Simply putting moss inside a wooden frame wasn't enough.

It felt too ordinary.

If we were going to make something, it had to be something people hadn't seen before.

Without realizing it, that simple decision became one of the principles that still guides MossArtum today.

The Wooden Cubes

One evening I had an idea.

Instead of working with flat wooden surfaces, why not build our first panel from individual wooden cubes?

Not identical cubes.

Different heights.

Different shadows.

Different textures.

I ordered hundreds of wooden cubes measuring 4 × 4 centimetres.

Three different heights.

2 cm.

2.5 cm.

3 cm.

The idea wasn't simply to create decoration.

It was to create depth.

Light.

Shadow.

Movement.

Looking back today, I realize that I wasn't designing just one panel.

Without knowing it, I was creating a system that could produce endless new compositions.

For a while, I even dreamed of turning it into a creative kit that people could assemble themselves at home.

Life eventually took us in a different direction.

But the idea still makes me smile.

📷 Photo

Our very first panel.

It still hangs above our bed today.

The First Signature Piece

That geometric panel became the first piece we were truly proud of.

Something unexpected happened.

Every friend who visited our home wanted one.

Some bought them.

Many received them as gifts.

Over time we created different versions, different sizes and different colour combinations.

Years later, we even began replacing the moss with hand-carved wood.

But despite all those changes...

the original never left our home.

It is still hanging above our bed.

Whenever we look at it, we don't just see our first panel.

We see two people who decided that it was never too late to begin something completely new.

Looking Back

Today it is easy to think that everything started with preserved moss.

It didn't.

It started the day we decided we wanted to build something together.

Moss was simply the material we happened to discover first.

At that time we didn't have a business plan.

We weren't thinking about Etsy.

Or international clients.

Or building a workshop.

Or creating bespoke wall art.

We didn't know where it would lead.

We simply enjoyed making things together.

Curiosity has a wonderful habit.

Once you follow it...

it rarely leaves you where you started.

📷 Next Chapter

A gift for our older son became the first artwork created for someone else's home.

Without realizing it, we had just taken the next step.

→ Chapter Two: Every Gift Became a New Artwork

This is a true story. Every artwork, every photograph and every event described in this series comes from our own journey as the founders of MossArtum.