Working the Stone – A Legacy of Generations
We work the stones and the stones work with us.
 Ibelieve working with them is something we carry in our blood, that love for the stones, for carving them, polishing them, sanding them, getting the best out of them, and obtaining together thousands of forms, textures, colors, sizes and utilizations.
While the smell of wet or dry stone fills their senses, the hands of the artisans that work on them make stones conceive the most beautiful pieces and shapes.
Marble, granite, limestone, quartzite, slate. All are stones guarding thousands upon thousands of years of formation. Their composition is telltale of their history; the amount of lime, of fossils… Did this come out of an ancient seabed millions of years ago? Upon poploishing it seashells, mollusks and a vast sea of fossils and plants magically appear.
 There are granites from riverbeds that give us rounded stones of all colors and sizes upon opening them; while others have petrified branches, leaves or quartz crystals that explode in thousands of winged colors under the sunlight, blinding and fascinating your senses... more and more do we want to carve them.
People ask us why do we enjoy so much a work that is so heavy and activity intensive. They see us sweat, carry and sweat again, while dust sticks to our skin and cuts our hands, going into our eyes and making us cry.
Why do we like it?... because we see shapes, colors, textures. Because this is the most fascinating of hand crafts. Working with stones is working with the history of so many years, it is something that is almost sacred. We work with stones that arm, hold, inspire, decorate.
 As happened to our ancestors – I imagine – while edificating the great stone pyramids and temples; those of us from all over Mexico: Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Querétaro, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Jalisco and Nayarit; are now building and giving shape and form to hotels, condominiums, houses, ballrooms and restaurants among many other constructions.
A great part of what we see in Vallarta and surroundings is made of stone, a stone that we carved with our sweat, this profession is not taught in schools or universities, it is a legacy over generations, from the moment when man carved the first stone and, like us, fell in love with his trade. Email to a friend
Rebeca Santiago
E-mail: piedramarpv@hotmail.com
My Feedback about this Article
Previous Articles |
Current
Weather Report
