Stefan From-Møller

can you introduce yourself and tell us how your artistic journey began?

I am a 41 year old (late diagnosed) neurodivergent STROKE survivor living with a brain injury. These diagnoses are what led me onto my artistic journey. When I had my STROKE in 2020 I was working as a science teacher without any art in my life. about 4 years later I picked up a crochet hook which led to other crafts - whittling, stonecarving and eventually chainsaw carving about a year later. So in the summer of 2025 I bought my first chainsaw and I haven't looked back since. Wood has become my meditation - whether it be with chainsaw, knife or powertool - giving me serenity and calmness in my head. It is what gets me through my days, keeps my mental health in line and gives me something meaningful to do (since I have ended up on a disability pension after my STROKE).

What ideas, experiences or emotions inspire your artwork?

My artistic practice is mostly inspired by my lifelong love of nature and knowledge of anatomy. Ideas come to me in nature when walking my dog or when I am working the wood - I often say that I collaborate with the wood rather than just work it. A simple shape or stroke of the chainsaw leaving a shape or line that I then keep - a curve in the grain of the wood creating an eye or a mouth or the lines within a hand that I am carving. It is always a collaboration!

The experiences and emotions I draw on often come from my mental health struggles (especially after my stroke) and from my love of nature. I try to spread awareness of brain injury and the consequences it has for entire families. Therefore I also look to work with brain injury organizations - specifically SameYou - who aim more at younger survivors.

Sometimes the ideas just find me. I love to just pick up a piece of wood and start to whittle and see what comes out. Several of my sculptures have come to be in this way.

How would you describe your creative process and the materials you use?

As I mentioned above I feel I work in collaboration with the wood. Sometimes I have an idea or motiff before before getting started (it is rarely where the final sculpture ends up though) and other times I just start out with a piece of wood and see where the wood and knife or chainsaw take the wood.

When it comes to materials sustainability is key for me. I use the wood noone else wants or that has been discarded. It could also be a stormfelled tree or a tree that needed to be cut down for safety reasons. 

All the wood in my store has been gifted by friends and aquaintances. Whether it be mirabelle wood that has been lying for years in a garden, an old walnut that has a lifetime of history or oaks that grew under powerlines - all wood that would otherwise have ended up nowhere. I also save every cut-off from my sculptures to make smaller sculptures until there is only dust left.

Is there one artwork that is especially meaningful to you, and what is the story behind it?

My piece "The winding path of life" is very symbolic of my journey after my STROKE and how life can change in an instant. I have a few iterations of the sculpture because every life is different but always a winding path - sometimes with a broken limb or part, but life goes on.

What are you currently working on, and what do you hope to explore in the future?

Right now my primary project is hands - it is an artistic impression of the logo of SameYou. It is a mixed media project. I am making two hands from wood, I have letters made from stone which are going to be embedded in resin to be suspended between the two hands (I will add a picture).

I dream of making a difference. Collecting money for SameYou and other charities and hopefully be an inspiration for others in a similar situation to find their own craft to help them through a tough period in their life. I also hope to make more large sculptures and to be able to make enough for a Solo show at a gallery.

More concrete I have an idea of making a more cohesive sculpture combining wood and resin in a fluid and seamless way. I have a few ideas here, but they are still ideas in my head - and I haven't found the right wood for it yet.

My website is www.braincrafts.info