Johannes Meyen was born in 1985 in Freiburg im Breisgau in Southern Germany.

He discovered his love for artistic wood working early in life, beginning to build simple toys in his father’s workshop at five years of age. As a student at a Waldorf School in Germany throughout his school years, he began exploring traditional carpentry and joinery only a few years later.

Working with a teacher who made and sold wood burl and mineral sculptures at local fairs, he made his first sculpture from Mediterranean chestnut burl at the age of 12. The memory of this piece became the original inspiration for his return to sculpting decades later.

During his later school years, he gained additional experience with traditional joinery and a variety of artistic crafts, increasingly focusing on wood carving.

Johannes Meyen studied biology in Los Angeles and pursued various business endeavors. Eventually, he established an installation business, which led him to revive his craft skills, culminating in diverse types of custom work for demanding clients.

In 2021, he moved his family to Costa Rica. Reevaluating his goals and pursuits during a sabbatical there, eventually led to the decision to begin working with wood again. He was inspired to pursue his craft on his own terms.

As he felt Costa Rica was not a realistic location to establish this new venture, he relocated his family to Braga in Northern Portugal in 2023. There he searches out trees and stumps on old farms, cut or burnt-down forests, and all manner of neglected corners – rescues, cleans, and dries them – and transforms them into his original works.