...I wipe my eyes, you know, the dust from the stones makes me cry. You, the keystone of my life, foundation rock, flat stone of a path, sharp obsidian that guts me in one stroke. My destiny is carved in your name.Stone.
A vivid face, a deep stare and the resounding voice typical in her, Rebeca Santiago told me with authentic joy: “I am a woman of stone, precisely, I work with marble, limestone and granite, all the live elements used in various forms during the construction or enrichment of a building”.
“Being a woman of stone has to do with maintaining the strength to face things and circumstances life puts in our way, as well as all that arises from our decisions. Being a woman of stone means educating and raising my two daughters so that they face with intelligence and wisdom what they will experience now and in the future”.
“Being a woman of Stone ―contrary to what many may think―, has nothing to do with being cold or insensible, it is rather about having an open heart, like that of marble, one that although of great firmness (not hardness), can be modeled, transforming its attributes to give shape to ideas, visions and dreams that will later stand out within the architectural context where they belong”.
For Rebeca it all began with her acquaintance with limestone, the first stone she came in contact with. She visited the town of Degollado, in the state of Jalisco two or three times a week, there Pablo Bañales introduced her to the knowledge of limestone. A genuine love for the stone was born inside her heart. She learned to tell the different colors, texture, as well as its uses according to its attributes. While some stones can be carved, others are excellent for floors or façades. Pablo taught her great things, she warmly remembers that when he saw her coming he always said: “There comes the woman who always wants to learn and never buys anything”. With time Rebeca became one of his best clients, but most of all, a friend.
Back in 1990, when participating or visiting exhibits was not usual, even less so for a woman, Rebeca decided to participate in a hotels suppliers’ exhibit. There, among those selling spoons, linens, tables, kitchens, etc. She was surrounded by stones, attracting the attention of some prestigious hoteliers that were being followed by other suppliers as they approached her stand. As she started to work with hoteliers, Rebeca had to refine and extend her knowledge of stones; one of the first hotels where she worked was the Marriott Casa Magna, where the astonishment of architects, engineers and designers at seeing a woman working on limestone was impressing. That was when she began to get requests for marble.
For Rebeca it has been a challenging process through which she has learned to know and love stones, as she says: “It’s a live material of great beauty, so much so that working on it I can make several mistakes and it will not complain, I can fix things by caressing it. I can carve, polish, give it brightness or make it appear older or stand out, texturize and make a stone shine anew with every phase”.
Rebeca began experimenting with marble approximately fifteen years ago, when it was only polished and made to shine, as it is customary for gravestones and tombs. With the support of a good friend and designer, and with the purpose of using marble in beach homes, she decided to try to create different textures and finishes, giving birth to a new style that immediately found its echoes in Vallarta. “Piedrantigua” (Antiquestone) had been born creating a big hubbub as back then only clay tiles and ceramics were used in beach homes. She started using waxes, acids and sealants among other elements in order to give texture to the stone while maintaining its beauty. It resulted in a creative and exciting learning process, Rebeca started designing figures, cuts and shapes.
Back then materials of small measurements were hardly ever used, she profited from this situation by installing a workshop where only women worked. Working from an Italian catalog, the “Women of Stone” began to create marble tapestries; almost all of the stones were Mexican and there were no tools to work on them; how could they do their job? In that workshop it was mainly women working, women who due to different circumstances had to fight for their lives on their own: single mothers, inmates’ wives, some with hardly any schooling, without a job or money. Some of them with serious psychological and emotional problems, but all of them with a fighting spirit so solid and noble as stone, they were precisely, “women of stone”.
Soon people could tell their work by the textures, it is that distinction that brought Rebeca to Puerto Vallarta between 1993 and 1994, then she started to work placing Mexican marble made to look old in beach homes, handling different colors, mainly orange from “tikul”, this is a stone which the people from Yucatán say is part of the “Chubchuluc” meteorite, claimed to have exterminated the dinosaurs; white from “conchuela”, a fossil stone also from the Yucatán; “beige travertine” from the Puebla and “black” from Monterrey. To obtain colored accents, “green Tikal”, from Guatemala; and the “Alicante red” honoring the Spanish motherland. Rebeca created designs that, thank God, were a great alternative for coastal homes, hotels and restaurants.
Marble is a live natural element, that is why when working on layers or construction, the benefits and advantages are significant, and if you add textures, the result is simply fascinating. While the cold freshness of marble can be seen and felt, its vibrant warmth can also be experienced and its magnificent thermal properties can also be enjoyed. Moreover, marble is a timeless stone, not showing its age or the time when it was placed there, therefore contributing to the added value of the property using it.
Rebeca is fascinated by the effect of aging of marble. She says that with time – as happens with good wines – the stone forges its character, and if that can be seen in the streets of some cities and towns in Europe, or Mexican colonial towns, where marble has never been polished, you can observe the nostalgic passage of time. That is a subtle and captivating display of age and experience.
Stemming from the damage caused by hurricane “Kenna”; Rebeca was invited to participate in the refurbishment of the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort & Convention Center; back in those days she came in contact with some of her former clients, establishing with them her activity of “woman of stone” in Puerto Vallarta, giving thus birth to Piedramar.
Now, after more than twenty years in the business, Rebeca Santiago has embarked on a new venture with her dearly beloved stones and with God’s help her goal is to engage anew other “women of stone”.
This time, with the help of her husband, Luis Fernando Arana and in following with her destiny, the new artistic line searches for chances to export her deeply Mexican-flavored work featuring contemporary and abstract touches. Rebeca is convinced that thanks to the flow of visitors from practically all corners of the earth, Puerto Vallarta is the perfect place to broadcast her work to the world. A scoop of her new work is being exhibited at some specialized stores and boutiques such as Artel, Silvia García, Ana Cuadra and Laura Urrea, and at her office-workshop at Francisco Medina Ascencio 5290.
While all of this is happening, Rebeca continues to work on projects and developments like Porto Fortuna in Punta Mita and Marival Residences in Nuevo Vallarta —both in the Riviera Nayarit—. As always , she is ready and willing to collaborate and contribute with “a grain of stone” to the construction and enrichment of homes and buildings, this is a great privilege she wishes to continue enjoying.
Rebeca Santiago shares with me the following: “My dream is related to the earth and stones. I enjoy large spaces and wish to live in a ranch of the region. I like rocky hills and the clouds that sit on top of them. I am captivated by the idea of a small home but with lots of land. I can see there an open studio to paint; I aspire to a simpler life; to have a ranch with a few cows, chickens and most of all, a horse! I have not ridden in a long time, galloping through the fields fascinates me. To return to a country life, it is there I want to be, my home will of course be made of stone and adobe and other natural elements. May God grant me what my heart longs for”.
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“Being a woman of stone has to do with maintaining the strength to face things and circumstances life puts in our way, as well as all that arises from our decisions. Being a woman of stone means educating and raising my two daughters so that they face with intelligence and wisdom what they will experience now and in the future”. 
Back in 1990, when participating or visiting exhibits was not usual, even less so for a woman, Rebeca decided to participate in a hotels suppliers’ exhibit. There, among those selling spoons, linens, tables, kitchens, etc. She was surrounded by stones, attracting the attention of some prestigious hoteliers that were being followed by other suppliers as they approached her stand. As she started to work with hoteliers, Rebeca had to refine and extend her knowledge of stones; one of the first hotels where she worked was the Marriott Casa Magna, where the astonishment of architects, engineers and designers at seeing a woman working on limestone was impressing. That was when she began to get requests for marble.
Back then materials of small measurements were hardly ever used, she profited from this situation by installing a workshop where only women worked. Working from an Italian catalog, the “Women of Stone” began to create marble tapestries; almost all of the stones were Mexican and there were no tools to work on them; how could they do their job? In that workshop it was mainly women working, women who due to different circumstances had to fight for their lives on their own: single mothers, inmates’ wives, some with hardly any schooling, without a job or money. Some of them with serious psychological and emotional problems, but all of them with a fighting spirit so solid and noble as stone, they were precisely, “women of stone”. 
This time, with the help of her husband, Luis Fernando Arana and in following with her destiny, the new artistic line searches for chances to export her deeply Mexican-flavored work featuring contemporary and abstract touches. Rebeca is convinced that thanks to the flow of visitors from practically all corners of the earth, 