Jacobo García Martínez has been restoring historic buildings for 15 years. He started out in construction with Donald Gray, assisting him in work on the portal of the church of Mecina and at Donald Gray’s own home. He learned by observation, for as Gray once… said to him: “if you really want to learn, just look at what was built over 100 years ago.” He works mostly in the Alpujarra district near Granada, though he has also done work in France, England, Denmark, Morocco and other parts of Spain such as La Rioja, Valencia, Alicante, Madrid or Málaga.

Jacobo seeks to restore the look and quality of traditional houses as well as of their plots and even of paths, and thus to preserve heritage in the widest sense. He is highly versatile, and has restored many farmhouses. If they are ruined, he often dismantles and rebuilds them, using diverse techniques as required: paving, roofing, terracing, rendering, etc. He has also done a great range of other work, from restoring churches to making fountains, ovens or fireplaces. He excels in many crafts, such as polished, stencilled or sgraffiti stuccowork.

The materials he uses are those that come first to hand. This means working with air lime, hydraulic lime, marble dust, calcites, earth and fieldstones such as shale, half-formed slate or quartz, stone from the mine of El Conjuro, slate and marble, etc.

Jacobo says his most important tools of all are his hands.