European Stone Festival 2019 in Trondheim

A couple of weekends ago I was in Trondheim, Norway, for the European Stone Festival 2019. First time for me to this annual event and first time at a stonecarving festival. 110 participants from all over Europe and beyond, we had to carve a 10×30 cm local soapstone with the theme “games” in just 2 days. Not an easy task! I registered for the “bench competition”, that is 6 winners would have their work installed in benches in a public square in Trondheim. Hence, the angular shape that you can see in the photos. We could only carve on two sides and I decided to carve a hand throwing dice. All the stones were publicly auctioned and mine was bought by an italian lady that now has it in her lounge. Happy to see a work of mine in the far north. Now I have several in Britain, one in Sardinia and in Norway. Let’s see if I can seed them in other countries… Next year the festival is in Freiburg, Germany, so maybe…

Anyway, it has been an extraordinary experience and I’ve learned a lot about the stone masonry world that is so different from the stone carving world I am used to.