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ADDRESS:
Calle Herreria 6, Bajo – 28460 Los Molinos, Madrid
ACTIVITY
Since she began her training in restoration, Paloma has always oriented her professional career from the perspective of analysing the materials which shaped the artisanal or artistic work to be preserved. As a designer, she considers that the perception of the final result in terms… of colour, texture or composition are key and closely linked to the material with which she is carrying out the work. Today, she is dedicated to giving service to her clients where creating a technical and aesthetic protocol of intervention is key to shed light together on the project the client wants to carry out. She considers part of her responsibility both to provide the best technical completion and to give advice on the choice of the materials.
Paloma is specialist in claddings and finishes, working both in rehabilitation projects and newly-built projects with the use of traditional materials such as lime, gypsum or earths. She prefers to work with those materials she considers “noble” materials because of their quality, fidelity to their function and durability. The application techniques are based on those traditional ones, adapting them to the needs of each particular case and the conditions of the supporting elements. She mainly does interior and exterior finishes, stuccoes, plastering and sgraffito. However, she also carries out works related to painting in general, with lime and tempera, or decorative painting, such as copies, patinas, marble-imitation and other many treatments applied to wood and stone.
Apart from intervening in different works as the actual executor of the craft, she also carries out a coordinating function, building up teams in collaboration with the architecture firm of Alfonso Zavala, as well as with other construction businesses, joining forces and knowledge with the aim of giving a complete service to the client.
She always goes for local materials, formulating on-site or resorting to trustworthy manufacturers. Her needs in terms of investigation, takes her to be constantly reading, researching and training with artisan masters of both national and international recognition.
TRAINING
Paloma has a Diploma in restoration of cultural goods, having specialized in painting, by CEROA, Madrid. However, she has also trained in many specialized techniques as well. More specifically, she has a title in Restoration of Ceramic and is a Specialized Technician in Arts applied… to walls by the Escuela de Arte La Palma, Madrid. She has also carried out continuous training in specialized techniques in training centres such as the Crafts Centre in Leon, Homo Faber of the School of Arts in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo.
Her need to continue learning has led Paloma to have a broad training and research in Morocco on the techniques regarding lime stuccoes, training in the design of interiors along with the IEB (Instituto Español de Baubiologie) and the training in the different coating techniques with earth along with Okambuva.coop and Joachim Reinecke. Together with the IEB she takes part in the international gatherings for the training on construction techniques with hemp under the project Erasmus+ Canapalea.
She believes that learning is a continuous task which one achieves daily on-site and where every difficulty which arises is somehow a lesson – since there is a need to search for the specific material which is adequate in each case and to take decisions as a team with the rest of the collaborators taking part in the commissioned work. Likewise, teaching as a practice keeps alive that need of giving an answer to questions which constantly arise and to keep in permanent renewal.
TEACHING
Her professional role as a teacher started over twenty years ago in workshops in the field of restoration. She has dedicated the last ten years of her life to sharing her knowledge regarding artisanal techniques for the execution of finishings via the means of practical… workshops and lectures throughout different parts of Spain, Morocco and Portugal.
She has carried out many training courses in finishings made of lime, clay and natural finishes with Alen y Calche S.L (Madrid) and Okambuva.coop (Sagunto), as well as other theoretical-practical courses on “Natural Finishes” at the School of Interior Design, IADE (Madrid).
Other tasks she has carried out as part of her teaching role are the Training workshops with lime in Marrakech and clay-based rendering at the School of Arts EASD (Segovia), at the Instituto CIRCE and the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción (Zaragoza); courses on the traditional technique of finishing using lime and clay in Marrakech and UIR (Rabat); courses in collaboration with different universities such as, the UAH (Alcalá de Henares), the UGR (Grenada), the UIJI (Castelló), the UPV (Valencia) and the UNIZAR (Zaragoza); training in natural finishings in collaboration with the IEB, training in lime finishings at the workshop sessions of the eco-educational centre Agotzenea – Employment Service in Navarre (Zubiri); Erasmus+ Project for the investigation of the Tadelakt (Developing methods of teaching Tadelakt and natural building and creating wider opportunities for adults to learn it), training in Portugal and Estonia.
Moreover, she is the founding associate of Naturdomus.org, association for the promotion of good practices in construction and sustainable architecture; and carries out a continues training for apprentices giving the students of the workshops the chance to delve into the real practice of the craft, something which has made it possible to progressively create a network of artisans with which to create different work groups.
SELECTED WORK
Works for detached houses both in rural areas and urban ones: the most significant one, the rehabilitation of the Casa Palacio Atocha 34, in Madrid.
Restoration of the Altarpiece of San Jerónimo of the Parish Church of Ambel, in Zaragoza.
