Stonemasonry
"You shape the stone, but the stone shapes you".
(Stonemasonry saying)
Stonemasonry is the art of shaping and assembling building stones. Walls, stairs, bridges, arches and vaults are assembled, piece by piece, in a laborious puzzle in which there is no space for doubt or error.
The stonework was the first vocation of Artifex and still has a special place in our project. The intimate pleasure of working the hard material, shaping and modeling it accurately and carefully can only be fully appreciated after having experienced it. Also the feeling of being part of a chain of knowledge and tradition that, since ancient Egypt, preserves and transfers knowledge and techniques to the new generations.
We keep the traditional construction techniques alive. Arches and vaults are the perfect example of compression construction. Pieces jammed against each other, forming beautiful structures that resist centuries of oblivion, and that we want to recover for contemporary construction.
Img: Gothic semicircular arch, undisputed star of many balearic facades and houses. Wide, with long voussoirs, it reminds us of an era where the important thing was to combine beauty, utility and firmness.
Lion's mask for fountain. The sound of water should never be missing at any garden.
Corbels, columns, windows, stairs or wells can be plain constructive elements, or sophisticated pieces that combine beauty with utility too.
Img: gothic corbel.
The restoration of a stonework or an ancient sculpture is something special for a stonemason. Caressing with your hands a work that another stonecutter or sculptor carved with his hands many years or centuries ago reminds us that we are still useful and that we are heirs and custodians of an ancient craft.
We have worked at the Cathedral of Palma, at the Episcopal Palace, the Almudaina Palace, the Almudaina residence of the Kings of Spain, in churches, convents, rural houses or restoring statues and monuments for various municipalities and the Consell de Mallorca.
Img: Reproduction of the Roman Consul for the City Council of Palma. Ramblas
The manual carving of letters in "v" cut is a field open to creativity, still to be explored in our geographical area. Virtually reduced to the mechanized labeling of streets signs and tombstones with tasteless flat typographies, it deserves to recover the importance it had in the past, attested by commemorative signs, plaques and term crossings.
Img: Carving in progress of a commemorative plaque.
Halfway between stonework and traditional construction, DryWalling lives bittersweet moments, with some good works and other infamous, truffled with portland cement, the result of the laziness of those who should take care of a heritage that took generations to create. In Artifex we conduct international drystone courses, proof that, beyond our coasts, our good work is appreciated.
Img: Circular viewpoint for the City Council of Deià.
