The Master Sculptor: Jan Vande Voorde from Belgium

Mr. Dandoy had a world-famous bakery in Brussels. Even to this day the Dandoy House makes the best speculaas. They are considered the benchmark.
The wooden boards did wear – the company needed new once constantly. Mr. Dandoy and Mr. Vande Vorde teamed up – and a career in cookie board carvings was established.
Jan Vande Voorde was a furniture maker/wood carver. He just took the opportunity and carved speculaas boards, it provided him a living. Not many people made these boards at that time.



Jan Vande Voorde carved for professional bakeries as well as for himself; he sold his molds locally at craft fairs. However his contacts were international, he had customers in the US and Japan.  Interestingly the local, Flemish people did not pay much attention to him.
He tried to retire at age 80 – but that didn’t work. He might well be carving in heaven at this point.

I was fortunate to see a mold for sale – a court jester, all but 13” in height. 
(The mold, the molded cookie before baking and the end result)

    

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