Visit of Alain E. Bidal's sculptor workshop in Isle sur la Sorgue - Provence
In our worshop in Isle sur la Sorgue, we can create works out of stones or materials you wish, according to any specific requirements.
For fountains, fireplaces and sculptures, we mostly use a semi-tender stone quarried from hills of Provence, and specifically from the typical village named Oppede, on the north face of the Luberon mountain,right in the middle of the Provence area. With its chalky-white appearance, this homogeneous thin-grained stone is frost-proof.
However, for building stone kitchen elements such as sinks, or some special ornament sculptures, our craftsmen could choose a different stone considered semi-hard. This thin-grained chalky stone with oolithes has been carved since the Gallo-Roman time.
Manufacturing process in our Studios in Isle sur la Sorgue
As an ancestral handicraft, stone hewing requires a perfect knowledge of materials and a real expertise in tools handling. The overall control of the whole manufacturing process is then a key success factor for a beautiful creation.
The entire rough block of stone comes to our workshop to be then cut in slices for better handling. Then only, those slices are cut again in the overall dimensions of the future sculptured edifice.
Our craftmen then take this block in hands, and start their sculpting job. The artwork is then hewed, hammered and finely engraved, and little by little, the coveted object takes its final shape.
The final object is then given a patinated antique look.
