Carpintería Ebanistería Ferrao – Carlos Ferrao
ACTIVITY
This firm performs all sorts of woodwork and structural repairs in houses, palaces, granaries, mills, churches and monasteries, as well as all kinds of carving and cabinetry.
It uses native traditional woods such as chestnut, oak, cherry and walnut, and some imported timber. Artisanal experience, with… the incorporation of some machinery to facilitate tasks and enhance precision, makes this a dynamic business.
TRAINING
The learning method in the Ferrao family goes back to 1830, with know-how and a love for woodwork being passed on from father to son. In the 19th century, around 1830, Cosme Ferrao combined farm work with woodwork as required locally for hórreo granaries, llagar… cider presses, carts, houses or huts. In 1868 Francisco Ferrao was born in Los Campones. He refined the family trade and expanded the business by also making furniture bearing the hallmark of his craftsmanship. At the age of 59 his restlessness took him to Cuba, where he worked as a carpenter. He returned in 1929 and continued working wood until his death at the age of 98. The saga continued with José Ferrao, who emigrated to Cuba with his brother and worked in a carpentry shop before setting up a workshop of his own. In 1959, when Castro came to power, he moved on to California, where he died in 1979. In 1942 Enrique Ferrao, founder of today’s Carpintería Ferrao, was born in Braniella. Aged 14, he became an apprentice in Villamayor. At 18 he moved to Gijón and even planned to emigrate to Australia, but during his military service he was posted to Madrid, where he worked making furniture for military HQ. On his discharge from the army he worked in Gijón in the woodshop of Marino Fabián until, aged 27, he settled in Coceña, where he too combined woodwork with farming. He set up his first workshop in a cider press-house in which he was able to do woodwork only outside the cider-making months. This first woodshop was covered over by sheet metal and occupied no more than 3 m2, but as his workflow grew and electric machinery came in, its size increased progressively to 250 m2. In 1994, when this space no longer sufficed, he built a 600 m2 warehouse opposite his house, with enough room to store wood and to allow for further growth. In 1999 his son Carlos Ferrao joined the workshop, and after Enrique retired in 2006, Carlos took over the firm aged just 24, as a fifth generation of Ferrao carpenters. Carpintería Ferrao now has facilities of 1,200 m2 in a plot of some 15,000 m2.
TEACHING
Pedagogical talks for the Asmadera timber business association. Contributions to the Aitim journal (May-June 2016) and to the Guía del Castaño guide to the uses of chestnut wood.
Over the years the firm has trained various interns from the Universidad Laboral and El Prial training centres,… who have gone on to have their own businesses.
SELECTED WORK
Complete restoration of the Palace of Gobiendes (14th century). Choir-stall carvings at the Purísima Concepción Convent in Villaviciosa. Restoration of the Montes de Valdueza Monastery (7th century). Mudéjar wooden ceiling in the Rey Casto Chapel in Oviedo Cathedral. Restoration of centuries-old houses, returned emigrants’ mansions,… mills and hórreo granaries, replica chests and assorted furniture, antique cider presses, wood sculptures for Eduardo Úrculo, etc.
