workshop visits
marble dust at the marmista
One of the things I’m really enjoying throughout this process is getting to visit so many workshops of the artisans who are working on the different elements of the house. It’s at the stage now where many details are needing to be addressed and I’m having to actually get to work in dealing with the logistical organization of when some tasks will be finished to match up with others in the timeline.
And although at the start of the year I’d been in contact with several of the artisans as I was getting the general quotes and narrowing down who I’d like to work with, nothing completely tangible was made at that point. But now we are at the step where these workshop visits are becoming more frequent and necessary. Since about a week ago, our region of Umbria went back to the status of “yellow” in Italy’s color-coded lockdown system (this was an upgrade from our previous “orange”), we now can move around a little more freely. This has opened up reasons to fit in a few visits before the lockdowns come again leading up to Christmas.
Here is the current list of the local craftsman who I’m working with. I’m so happy to be able to follow in-person some of the progress with visits to the workshops:
• Two marmiste (marble workers) to discuss a few pieces. One is taking care of cutting the slabs for the kitchen island, and the other is carving the sinks. Last week the final slab was chosen for the smaller powder room sink…and now I’m still waiting for just the perfect slab for another bathroom. When they start to carve a sink they’re going to let me know so I can come check out the process.
• Fabbro (iron monger) who is commissioned to make a long list of steel pieces from the front gates, to the stairwell banister, the balcony stairs, kitchen handles, window sills, and outdoor plant containers just to name a few.
• Falegname (carpenter) who will be building the kitchen and many of the other wooden pieces in the house from shelving, closets, and a piece of furniture here and there.
• Serramentista (window maker) they will also be handling most of the doors as well, but I’ve visited their workshop a couple of times and they said I can come when the windows are being made to watch.
• Ceramichisti (potters) I’ve already talked about them before as they helped fire my little votive that I made from the clay in the lot when they broke ground. I’m commissioning some handmade tiles made from the black terra cotta which I’ve designed for a niche in the master bathroom…more on this later as it will be a full post to itself.
• Tappezziere (upholsterer) after I found a really neglected but lovely shaped chair from the local antique/junk store, we took it to the nearby tappezziere who lives in the neighborhood and redid our little vintage car upholstery last year. After I choose the final material he’s going to restore the entire chair and stool and I’ll be able to see the progress.
As I write all of these, I still think there may be a couple of other specialists which I’m forgetting but I’m throughly enjoying taking advantage of the local Italian artisans during this stage. And as a silver-lining to this year of having no work, I’ve at least had the time to be able to source out these projects and be attentive to the smallest of details.