me studio

last saturday, whilst researching a project i am working on, i visited the friendly owner of ‘houtdraaierij riet’ in amsterdam, one of the few remaining old woodworking shops in town

his father and grandfather owned the shop before him and he very kindly spent some time sharing his latest project with me: learning how to carve traditional ‘gable stones’ of which there are a great many in amsterdam… mostly depicting the profession of the resident of the building they were placed on

this one features himself as a stone mason, with a view on the noorderkerk church (near where his grandfathers shop used to be located) and he has even added a famous local resident: ‘rembrandt van rijn’ looking in through a window… inspiring stuff