Workshop description Julio Peña García. Damascener. | TCLM

CRAFTSMAN

Julio Peña García started before he was sixteen in the damascene artwork and at that age he started his studies at the Toledo Artistic Arts and Crafts School. Once he finished his training and encouraged by his masters, the election his job and his future was outlined in this craftwork branch.

After many years of work and mastery, he feels deeply moved when he talks about the origins of this art and its historical development. Among the three most frequent damascening styles, Julio prefers the arabesque, with fretwork, trimmings, and geometrical drawings of the damascene over the blued iron, black and gold that make each piece shine and magnify its presence. His great motivation and creativity makes him innovate and renew himself in each work and each piece, and no two pieces are the same.

Worried because of the scarcity of new generations that keep this art away from industrial predators. The hand, the technique and the art must find a replacement so the damascene does not come to a remembrance of a brilliant past.