We proudly consider ourselves stone artisans, a definition that encompasses many meanings and is often misused. But what does it really mean to be artisans in the stone working sector?
Craftsmanship, the pride of the Italian economy, is a combination of skills and knowledge; it ranges from the ability to interpret a material to possessing the right techniques for working it. Being artisans does not mean excluding the benefits that technology has brought to every human activity—it would be foolish to leave “outside the door” technological solutions capable of assisting the work and, indeed, making the master artisan’s touch even more evident.
Stone artisans are no exception. Since the times of the Serenissima, when the figure of the Taiapiera was held in the highest regard, the art of stone working has been passed down from generation to generation.
Stones are not all the same; one must know their characteristics, be able to interpret their features, “tame” them to create the commissioned object. Knowledge of the material is not learned from books, or at least not solely from texts. Years of “direct contact” with these blocks, rich in history and the result of complex geological dynamics, make the difference when choosing the starting point for a project.
The tools of the trade are then the means by which the idea is transferred onto the material and becomes concrete, growing before the artisan’s eyes, who knows how to recognize its uncertainties, correct its deviations, and enhance its details. It is difficult to explain how this becomes so simple, or apparently simple; how a chisel can become a brush, how light and precise its strikes become. It is the magic of the artisan—it cannot be explained, only admired.
But being stone artisans in the third millennium also means—as we mentioned—knowing how to interweave manual technique and technological contribution. In this sector, technology relieves the artisan from the fatigue of the heaviest work, returning energy and creativity, useful for making the objects created even more precise, beautiful, and expressive.
This is what it really means to be stone artisans, an art that remains true to itself over time but knows how to best interpret the evolutions of the times.