Hello, I am Mamuka Khoshtaria, Georgian woodworkers and furniture manufacturers association executive director. Invited professor in Technical, Agrarian and Ilia universities, where I teach woodworking courses. Director of company Ltd “Nano Wood”. I have been woodworking since childhood.
During my postgraduate studies (1987-1990), Tamaz Gegechkori, a very dear professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Technology, presented me magazines about German mechanical engineering. In one of the magazines, I saw an advertisement of a company with the caption “We are breaking hard nuts”:
It took me several years to set up the machine and make the walnut and Hazelnut screw nutcracker. That was probably 1995-96. This is one of the first nutcracker made from boxwood and Jujube timber with help of my made machines:
In my free time in my workshop I was making from different species of wood, mostly gift Hazelnuts and walnut crackers. Years have passed and today I have a workshop in my own garage where I can already use all the technological processes to make them through a sufficient number of machine tools. The surface of the nutcrackers is covered with ecologically pure oils produced in Germany (Glimtrex® Food-Safe-Oil).
In 2016 and 2018, I participated in the International Summit of Design and Folk Crafts, where American expert Karen Gibbs considered my current hazelnut cuttings as a commodity that could be sold in the US market. Unfortunately, a pandemic prevented us from implementing this project. I am currently participating in an exciting project: Technologies and Innovative Experiences in Digital Design, Traditional Crafts and Decorative-Applied Arts, where the focus is on the use of digital technologies in folk crafts.