Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

2025-01-30 15:46:00, Kulturë CNA

Pogradec is one of the cities in Albania that has people who still keep alive the old tradition of craftsmen. Nowadays, where technology occupies the largest place, there are those citizens like Pirro Icka, who has never given up his passion for woodcarving. During the day, we find the professor near the auditorium with the students, while in the afternoon he spends his time in his workshop carving as a form of pleasure and relaxation for him.

Woodcarving is a craft that may seem difficult at first glance, but once you learn the first techniques, it becomes an inseparable passion for anyone who wants to develop it further.

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

"CNA TV" conducted a very interesting interview with the artist from Pogradec, who shared with viewers precious memories from his long-standing journey with his passion for woodcarving. With great pleasure, Pirro Icka welcomed us to his workshop in the city of Pogradec, where we encountered a variety of works, so special and wonderful and curated down to the last detail.

The Icka family in Pogradec has been carrying on the tradition of making art with wood for four generations. The first to start this tradition was Pirro's great-grandfather, who returned from Romania after a major earthquake hit Pogradec, and upon his return to the city he became a carpenter, building windows for the houses affected at the time. After his great-grandfather, the tradition continued with Pirro's grandfather, then with his father, and to this day, Pirro himself and his first cousin remain in this craft.

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

The professor says that the passion for carpentry is innate, growing up in a family of craftsmen made it even more important to him.

"Passion is innate, with the family staying with my father since I was little. My father was the third generation to deal with wood in the family and I was the fourth. Of course, growing up in a family of craftsmen who dealt with wood, passion was born. The beginning of the wood art of Icka was born with my great-grandfather.

He was an immigrant in Romania, after the biggest earthquake in Pogradec, his house was destroyed, he was forced to return and build the first house with large windows in Pogradec. Wanting to stay in the city, they wanted him to build large windows, windows for other houses, and so he was forced to become a carpenter.

Then my grandfather continued, being the eldest, he was a support for his father, and later many others were born into that family of carpenters. In Pogradec, they even had the first two machines that came from France.

The art of woodcarving was further developed by my father. With the advent of communism, everything was stopped, even shops were closed, and my grandfather was forced to work in a carpenters' cooperative. My father was fortunate enough to be a woodworking teacher and developed it a lot with his students.

"There he started to do woodcarving. Then it's me and my uncle's son who continue with the carving, following the tradition."

Preserving an old tradition is very difficult nowadays. Icka says that carpentry is a very beautiful craft to develop as a passion, but it cannot be the craft to ensure a living and sufficient income.

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

This is due to the difficulties of this profession, but also because buyers do not know its value.

"To preserve it as a tradition, you must have some specific conditions. This is a beautiful craft to develop as a passion but not as a craft to make a living. Knowing the difficulties it has, not only of the craft but also of the buyer, who some do not understand and some do not have the opportunity to buy it. I have the good fortune that I work for passion, not to make a living, and perhaps this has made me preserve it."

There is nothing like handwork - says the professor. The values ??of works created by human hands are incomparable to those produced by modern machinery. Pirro Icka expresses the great pleasure he experiences during the hours he spends in his workshop carving wood and creating art. What attracts him the most are the works with floral motifs, which he learned from his father as a child and continues to be in love with them.

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

"Handicraft remains handiwork. I do it for my own pleasure first and foremost, to spend those hours of relaxation for me, in a way different from others. If you look here, there are floral motifs based very much on the old tradition of iconostases. We had a very beautiful tradition that is no longer being developed today. These florals are easier for me, maybe I'm used to them, I don't know."

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

Old crafts seem to be heading towards extinction, this is because young people do not have the will to develop them, although they may have the passion within them. The professor himself shows that the interest of young people is very low, although they seek to learn it, they stay for a week and leave.

"Young people are a little interested, they like it, it's very beautiful, they want to come and learn. They stay for a week, they get tired, maybe they're too young, maybe they need a proper school. I would like to teach them but they don't have the opportunity, maybe because of the way residential buildings are developed today because in the building there is no place to carve. Here I am also limited, after 11 I can't work, although it may be the inspiration to carve more but...".

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

While we ask Professor Icka what Pogradec lacks to turn its attention to this wonderful art of woodcarving, the Pogradec artist replied that it lacks citizenship. He links this answer to the lack of a good education and receiving the initial foundation in schools. Among other things, the professor calls on young people to start working with their passions in old crafts because if they leave it simply as a passion, the latter will be lost.

"Citizenship is sorely lacking. Only those who have a good foundation in school understand art. Regardless of the school they have attended. My call is for them to start working, because if they start working, they will continue. If they just have passion in their mind, they will lose."

Pirro Icka, the professor from Pogradec who creates art through wood!

Pirro Icka is one of the most successful examples of a teacher who does not stop only with the mission of teaching, but also takes care of his passion to keep the old tradition of the Icka family alive. In his workshop in Pogradec, art lovers can see a variety of different works, which they can also make part of their homes. Pogradec is lucky to have honorable people like Professor Icka as part of it, who make not only their family, but the entire city proud. /CNA