Raquel Rodríguez Puebla was trained at the Escuela de Artes aplicadas y Oficios artísticos, Granada, Spain, in the ceramics specialization of plastic art and design. Right after she joined a building school for restoration and conservation of monumental buildings using traditional materials and techniques.
After opening her own ceramic atelier in the center of Granada, she also began to work in the field of restoration of heritage buildings in 2002 around the Granada area, where she gained extensive experience working on several important historical buildings.
She gradually broadened her work field by taking on contemporary architectural projects and interior decoration projects, applying her knowledge of traditional plasters and decoration in a modern context, parallel to the investigation of the Sgraffito technique.
Raquel came to The Netherlands in 2012 to apply her trade there and has worked on a wide variety of acclaimed projects all over the country.
Raquel’s interest in sgraffito comes from growing up in the city of Segovia, where all the facades of the historical centre are decorated using this technique of carving patterns into the fresh lime plasters. Mural decoration had always intrigued her and she began to explore the possibilities of ceramics in this context.
As soon as she came into contact with the techniques related to the carving of the lime plasters, through her work restoring historical plasters, she realized the possibilities of sgraffito to turn architecture into an infinite canvas.
After many years of further investigation Artisan Stucco now specializes in this traditional renaissance base relief plaster.
Find out more about this technique and it's possibilities here: Sgraffito Murals.
Researching the appropriate ingredients and application techniques of the different plasters is a key element of Raquel’s activities for her company and has been since she started her work as a plasterer.
Through the years she has acquired an in-depth understanding of the different manufacturing processes, both historical and modern, and gained insight into the chemical characteristics of the different materials, which enables her to design lime plasters that are environmentally friendly, durable even under harsh conditions, and always strikingly beautiful.
Raquel is founder and co-owner of Artisan Stucco Mortars, a company through which she makes the knowledge of her mortars and application techniques available for other specialists and the general public.
Her knowledge of the ingredients and processes involved in making custom lime plasters, combined with her experience with a wide range of materials available in today’s market place, allow her to design easy to use, high quality products for the modern building market.
Besides developing these products, she has the experience to advise prospective clients, architects, interior designers and plasterers on how to use them optimally in that wide variety of current building conditions.
Artisan Stucco Mortars offers a range of hand crafted, hydrated lime products in a series of stunning colours designed by Raquel: Waterproof Stucco mortars, Fresco stucco mortars, mortar for floated lime plasters, ready to use lime paint and Kalei.
For more information on Raquel’s product line please, visit Artisan Stucco Mortars.