Over the past decades Raquel Rodrígues has specialized in the technique of sgraffito, designing and applying decorative murals with lime plaster.
Sgraffito wall decoration might be one of the most sophisticated forms of plastering, combining both craftsmanship and artistic expression.
In Europe this technique dates back to classical times, was popularized in Italy during the Renaissance and later reemerged in 19th century Art Nouveau and Modernist architecture.
Raquel inherited her passion for sgraffito growing up in Segovia, a small medieval city north of Madrid.
Segovia has the largest amount of sgraffiti in the world. Practically all the facades in the historical center of the town are decorated using this plastering technique. The decorations date back to the 1700´s and many of them are still in very good condition.
Through her work as a plasterer Raquel came into contact with lime stucco and sgraffito master Juan Francisco Torres, who introduced her to the beautiful techniques used to decorate the famous Catalonian Modernist and Noucentist buildings.
Raquel designs and applies sgraffiti based on exact specifications, in close cooperation with the client and as creative work.
The first step is creating a design and choosing the colours of the plaster.
From an abstract pattern to the logo of your company, customizing your sgraffito to your aspirations is what this technique is all about. We can work on an idea or a concept and develop it or edit a design you already have to make it fit to the technique.
After the initial sketches have been perfected, the design is plotted to a real size template for transferring to the chosen location, using the same ancient technique used in traditional fresco paintings.
Using charcoal powder the cutting lines are carefully marked on the wall through perforations in the template.
The final layer of the plaster is carved "fresco", when the plaster is still wet, revealing parts of the underlying layer and creating a bass relief mural.
In this project we chose for a bright white and off white coloured plaster on a large scale, but nearly any combination of colours and size is possible.
A sgraffito will bring a unique visual centrepiece to the room, drawing the eye of the visitor and laying emphasis on that specific part of the space.