Atelier Wilfried Senoner

The studio

Our family-run wood studio is located in Ortisei, a small village in the Dolomites, which is a well known mountain range in the Northern part of Italy. In this region, called Val Gardena, the tradition of woodcarving dates back to the 16th century! This art has been passed on from father to son for many generations and still is the main industry of the valley. A handful of master artisans who work for us handcarve the statues using the same tools as 400 years ago: the chisel and the wooden hammer. After the carving is done, we start with the painting and meticulously polish the statues with an agate stone. This particular procedure makes the statues shiny and allows the colour to absorb into the wood ensuring the colour lasts longer and is a technique that is unique to our art pieces (as opposed to varnish, which is generally used). We create original designs and work with our customers' ideas. Bear in mind that we never carve the same statue twice, in order to grant you a peerless piece of original art. This is one of the reasons we are renowned worldwide for our amazing custom works.

Our studio

The step-by-step realization of a custom work:

1. The Design

We start from a design we create or received from our customer

2. The Clay Model

We make a small clay model in scale called “bozzetto”, which the artist needs for proportions and layout

3. Glue the wood

A full size sketch is then made in order to glue the best dried wood together

4. Start the work

Finally the artist begins his work

5. Working

The master carver works on fine details

Finished work

It may take several weeks to complete the work, depending on its size

Painting

Finally a master painter, in this case my mum, starts to colour the statue

Polishing

The piece is then meticously polished with an agate stone to make the colour absorb better and make the sculpture shiny. This procedure is a trademark of our business, while other, larger wood studios typically use varnish