About The Artist

The Early Years

Heiko was born in Suhl, a small town in the Thuringia Forrest of what was then East Germany and spent his childhood in that area. Surrounded by picturesque trees and mountains, he was often outside, eventually becoming an expert cross-country runner and skier. Another prominent feature of those small German towns was a set of creative people who loved working with their hands and creating toys and figurines. Heiko’s grandfather was an avid carpenter, and he spent many summers in his shop, learning a variety of traditional European crafts. His parents would also take him often to see the work of craftspeople in the surrounding mountain villages.

The artist can’t remember a time when creativity wasn’t a driving force in his life. “I think my own aspirations developed just as a natural extension of living in a small forest town, accompanied by highly skilled local craftsmen and handymen, and the ingenuity that life back at this time required,” he says. Still in high school, Heiko developed an interest in woodturning. However, lacking many of the materials and tools needed, he had to use some of that ingenuity. He built his first lathe from spare metal T-bars, the wheelbase of an old table saw, and the motor from a defective washing machine.

Heiko took every opportunity he could to study art and craft while he was growing up and throughout his college years, attending formal classes in both artistic and technical drawing, realistic and abstract painting with various media, including sculpture. Along with his passion for fine craftsmanship, Weiner had always been deeply interested in the American Southwest, so after completing a PhD in chemistry, he made a trip to see Colorado and Oregon, and, as he puts it, “There was no turning back after that.” He relocated to the United States in 1994, living in Colorado, West Virginia, and Michigan before ultimately settling in Houston, Texas, where he now lives and has his studio.

Culture & Style

“The American southwest with its vast landscapes and deserts, its rich culture, and its people have left a deep impression on my personal life and my art,” Heiko says. “I am particularly drawn to native pottery and sculpture, and often revisit styles, methods, and meanings for my own creative process.” For over 25 years now, Heiko has been creating bold and unique artworks that combine his extensive training in traditional crafts with his love of the Southwest. “I started working with wood, and later on began incorporating stone and other materials into my three-dimensional work,” he explains. “It seemed to have come as a natural progression from where I started with at a young age. After all, wood and stone are the oldest media known to man. I deeply believe in the eternal usefulness and beauty of both.”

The driving force behind the techniques he has developed is the natural human instinct to take simple materials and turn them into something beautiful and interesting. The ingenuity of his childhood comes into play as he finds unique ways to combine separate pieces into unified creations. Describing his process, he says, “For my three-dimensional bowls, vessels, and sculptures I am currently using multiple segmented wood-working techniques, and a combination of various materials, such as wood, semi-precious stones, metals, and acrylic paints and resins. The resulting style is colorful and ornamental, much resembling that of decorative pottery.

Influences & Associations

Heiko is a member of the Wood Symphony Artist Society, the American Association of Woodturners, AAW, RAW Natural Born Artist group, and has participated in some of their showcase events in the U.S. His work has been featured in several local newspapers and in a local Houston TV appearance with the Colonial Art Association. Viewers are drawn to each piece’s high level of craftsmanship and originality. When he is not in his studio, Heiko can often be found out in nature. As an accomplished endurance athlete, he has traveled extensively, visiting more than two dozen countries, and meeting an interesting mix of local people, politicians, and celebrities along the way. The opportunities to explore different regions of the world, together with the multicultural experiences, have had a major influence on his appreciation of different cultures and on how he approaches his artwork today. Additionally, he is a scientist by training, and this “has greatly helped in solving some of the technical challenges associated with my art, but has also kept me innovating, challenging my curiosity, and pushing my creativity towards ever more sophisticated or complex designs,” Weiner says. “In return, my art also provides a welcome balance to the more technical demands of my career.”

Inspirations

Over the years, Heiko has found inspiration in the work of artists who have pushed similar boundaries, including Malcom Tibbetts, Clay Foster, John Jordan, Steve Sinner, and especially Ray Allen, whose incredible craftsmanship and connection with the Southwest continues to be a key influence. “Wood, unlike any other material, has been with man since the beginning of time,” Heiko says. “I believe that the age-old techniques to preserve its usefulness and beauty will continue to evolve with us indefinitely. My mission is to create wooden bowls, vessels, sculptures, and wall décor that are both decorative and functional. Various precise techniques are required for this type of work, and each individual piece, regardless of size and complexity, is unique and one of a kind.”

For over a decade, Heiko has maintained his own registered trademark, guaranteeing potential collectors that each of his pieces is a one-of-a-kind, certified original.