The Sütő family, furniture painters and woodcarvers

Vargyas (now Vârghiș, Romania) in Udvarhelyszék County is one of the oldest centers of Transylvanian painted furniture. The most famous furniture painting and joinery family here is the Sütő family. It is thanks to them that the unique style of the Vargyas furniture has been creates and carried on. The style of the Sütő family had a strong ionfluence on the furniture painting of the neighbouring villages as well.

The first known representatives of the family came to Vargyas in 1568 as carpenters and joiners. The current stone homestead of the Sütős was built in 1773 in place of the former, simpler wooden house. The oldest tool implying the craft of painted furniture is the paint-crushing stone into which József Sütő (II) carved his name in 1680, followed by István Sütő in 1754 on the opposite side. It is still in use today, as the dyes are homemade by traditional methods, using pigments mixed into casein and mineral dyes.

Levente Lehel Sütő (Master of Folk Art) learned the furniture painting and wood carving crafts from his father and grandfather; he represents the 14th generation carrying on the craft. After obtaining a diploma in ethnography, he returned to the family heritage, to the production of traditional folk furniture and everyday objects. He uses a wide variety of compositions from the treasury that has been preserved in the family for centuries. His works can be found in many places around the world, including the furnishing of a Hungarian restaurant in Copenhagen, the rehabilitation of a 200-year-old samurai house in Japan, and the furnishing of the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin. He is often invited to international festivals.

Today the 15th generation is working as well, of which István Sütő (IV) is also a part.