Introduction
Natural, Artisanal Lime Flooring Taught by International Master Artisan Oscar Uruella Sacristán
Following on from our Spanish Trabadillo Plaster Workshop, this architecture workshop is dedicated to natural lime flooring. Just as artisans across the globe have been doing for thousands of years, we will be taking readily available 100% natural local materials and experimenting with them to create continuous lime & earthen flooring.
Oscar will be our guide as we learn to create Spanish Trabadillo floors as durable and smooth as those created using micro cement and resins, yet ours will be all natural and breathable. This is the third and final natural building workshop in India that Oscar will be teaching and your final opportunity for the season to experience architecture as art under the guidance of a renowned International Master Artisan.
Introduction from the Master Crafstman
Oscar Urruela Sacristán
This natural building workshop will be focusing on continuous natural lime and gypsum floors. A tradition known in Spanish as Trabadillos. Over four days we will be experimenting with using only local raw materials with a low ecological footprint to formulate stunning floor finishes.
Using the trial and error method, we will be exploring and researching with the available materials, various finishes carried out in an artisanal way using tried and tested traditional techniques.
We will achieve flooring finishes or pavements of high resistance with natural and mineral aesthetics without the need of any kind of expansion of joint.
Trabadillos, mortars prepared with a mixture of plaster and lime, have been widely used in Europe across the ages, at least since the 3rd Century CE. Few remnant examples exist in Roman culture. Plaster mortar samples may be seen to have survived the actions of time and the environment.
Its benefits, its ease and economy of preparation along with its durability, are enhanced by additives, which when empirically and wisely used have allowed them to defy the passing of the years.In modern times much of the work for a Trabadillo artisans lies in the restoration and conservation of the surviving examples.
Perhaps in the future, the use of Trabadillos will not be limited to restoration works and they will return to the position of high social status they were once afforded.
The experience of centuries of traditional master artisans is accessible to us through these traditions handed down to us.
Valuing the inherent precious cultural heritage and keeping it as a living tradition requires our artistic contribution in its evolution in these modern times, demanding a necessary transformation.
We will see how Trabadillos can be the perfect natural candidate to replace micro-cements and epoxy resins as a floor finish.
I intend that these courses be a guide with which confidence and creativity are enhanced, avoiding being mere applicators of a product, it is about experimenting and finding.
Participants will be given the the skills to undertake the necessary experimentation with materials in their own local context. Allowing the techniques taught in Spiti Valley to be translatable to any location and material context.
Meet the Master Craftsman
Oscar Uruella Sacristán
Oscar Urruela belongs to the third generation of stucco masters. He learned the trade from his father in the workshop and on site, developing with him a multitude of new and restoration jobs, especially in the north of Spain.
He has worked in hotels, theatres, institutional buildings, commercial premises and private homes. Using techniques such as scagliola, lime stucco, plaster stucco, stone restoration etc. He has a deep understanding of traditional materials and techniques, which allows him to also experiment with new textures and colours.
After the retirement of his teacher, he has begun a new stage in which he combines his need for experimentation and exploration with different natural and traditional materials in the search for new application techniques. With the continuity of work on site, undergoing a transmutation towards a more contemporary vision of the finishes.
He has also begun a creative phase researching in the fields of art and sculpture using the experience in different techniques and materials acquired over the years. Oscar participates in both collective and solo art exhibitions in different European cities and countries.
Since 2010 and always with the premise of enhancing and transmitting knowledge of our wonderful and forgotten traditional decorative techniques, he has been dedicated to teaching, giving practical theoretical workshops in Spain and also in other countries such as the USA, Argentina, Uruguay, England & Japan.
He offers training programs in different techniques, levels of difficulty, specialisation and duration. Scagliola, fire-ironed stucco, lime stucco, lime and plaster stucco (work), classic scagliola, artistic pieces, continuous natural floors, contemporary murals…
In 2020, and after several years of research and development, he also began to manufacture and market a range of traditional products in an artisanal way, developed with local raw mineral materials with a low ecological footprint and with different applications, both indoors and outdoors, based on lime and plaster (trabadillos ) with the trade name of GeBat System.
Oscar also collaborates in the creation of artistic projects for museums and contemporary artists with international companies such as Factum-arte, Empty and Acciona in museums in Qatar, Dubai, Oman, Algeria.
Who Can Attend
No prior experience or knowledge is required to attend. Just an interest in learning something new. That being said it may be of particular interest to:
- Architects, Engineers & Interior Designers interested in artisanal / sustainable finishes
- Natural Builders
- Heritage Home owners
- Experiential Travellers wanting to learn something new & have a new experience
- Designers
Architectural Workshop Content
- Presentation on the history of the technique
- Identification of materials.
- Preparation of base for application.
- Application methods & technique
- Creative techniques for varied finishes
- Polishing & burnishing
- Finishes and protective barriers.
Inclusions & Cost
₹25000 – Workshop Fees
- Includes participation in a small group hands on workshop maximum 16 participants.
- Ample opportunity to interact with Master Artisan one on one for personal guidance in technique.
- All materials
- Practical & Theory sessions taught by a highly skilled internationally renowned Master Artisan.
- All materials
- Vegetarian lunch & morning & afternoon tea
- Transfer from Kaza to Kwang village and return after workshop completion (according to fixed timings)
₹3600 – Accommodation & Food
- Vegetarian Dinner and Breakfast for 5 days
- 4 nights Accommodation in a dormitory in a traditional Spitian home onsite
- Camping – BYO tent discount of Rs 300 per day = ₹2400 Total