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Being creative with my hands is a way to relax and recharge my mind.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
• Hans Michael (HM) Haitchi is a qualified joiner who was inspired to work with wood by his dad, a master joiner in Austria.
• HM worked in his dad’s and mum’s joinery business from early childhood. As a medical student he made his own desk, bed, and wardrobe for his student accommodation. He also made different wooden gifts for his family and e.g. a jewellery box for his girlfriend Gerhild who later became his wife.
In 2001 Hans Michael & Gerhild moved to the UK. HM started making wooden toy cars for his nephews in Austria and for his friends’ children
• HM works as a medical doctor and asthma researcher at the University of Southampton in the UK. Whenever time allows HM creates wooden artwork in his little workshop and art studio in his garden shed.

ABOUT CarrotBird™
• HM lives with his wife Gerhild in Southampton. In 2011 their four years old goddaughter Abigail drew a bird with a carrot in its foot and gave it to HM as a gift. HM named the drawing CarrotBirdTM and has been using it as the trademark and logo for his woodwork, art and designs.

ABOUT CarrotBirdFish
• About 15 years ago HM and Gerhild bought a bendy wooden fish in a gallery in London and gave it to his brother and wife in law as a present. One Christmas, when they were visiting family in Austria, HM discovered that his brother’s sons had bitten off a segment of this bendy wooden fish. HM took the fish back to the UK and fixed it by replacing the missing wooden segment.
• This is when HM thought he should try making his own bendy wooden fish! The first fish was made from elm wood glued onto leather (HMH 2016, CarrotBird (CB) Fish (F) one (I)) which is now part of HM’s private collection.
• To develop and perfect the method he experimented with different glues and canvas materials to find the perfect combination. Since then, HM has been creating 40 to 50 fishes a year.

EXHIBITIONS AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
• His CarrotBirdFishes have found homes all over the world (UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and USA).
• From June to September 2021 several fish and bottle openers have been exhibited in the Chalk’s gallery in Lymington in an exhibition “From the Forrest to the Sea” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9m0oVIUX_Q).
• HM has also donated a CarrotBirdFish and large canvas of a print, called “Fish Bones”, which he made during a Covid-19 quarantine time, to the Sea City Museum in Southampton for an exhibition (Rainbows and Community Spirit - Southampton’s COVID-19 Story as part of the Southampton Stories exhibition at Sea City Museum running from Dec 2021 to July 2022).
• Many of HM’s fish are in his private collection and other private collections in Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, UK and USA.

ABOUT MemoryLaneFish
• Do you have a piece of wood that is connected to a special memorable time or locations? Would you like something to remember a special life event by? HM would be delighted to create a memory fish that will take you down the Memory Lane whenever you see or hold the fish in your hand. Please contact HM directly via his email carrotbird.com@gmail.com and check out his webpage www.carrotbird.com.

WHEN YOU BUY
• When you buy HM’s hand crafted wooden artwork or design a proportion of the sales will go to charitable projects (HM's Asthma Research supported by Asthma UK, Medical Research Foundation, AAIR charity, ... , Basics Bank food bank, Christians Against Poverty) and to our godchild.
• Please note that small pieces of woodwork and the fish are not suitable for very small children. There is a risk that wooden segments might come off e.g the canvas or leather when handled roughly and could be swallowed or inhaled by children.