TELEPHONE:
ADDRESS:
Calle Real 28 – 24891 Fontanos de Torío
ACTIVITY
Since 1990 Ricardo has been devoted to researching, reviving and disseminating the traditional techniques of carpentry and joinery, exploring two fields in particular:
– Spanish traditional structural carpentry, with all sorts of roofing solutions (ridge-and-rafter or collar-beam roofs with hips, octagonal frames with twin hip rafters… and decorated with interlaced strapwork of laths and crossbars or with mixed techniques, or 16-sided five-section structures decorated with coffers, or, as built in the summer of 2016, four segments of a rounded roof and ceiling framework webbed with ten-point stars).
– Reinterpretation of traditional furniture, and that of the Nordic, Japanese, Shaker and other styles.
He has also researched the building of wooden staircases (in flights, with winder steps, unsupported helical stairs, etc.), Mudéjar ceilings and wooden floor structures, steam-bending of wood, etc. chiefly through daytime carpentry and joinery courses from September to June as well as in specialist and summer courses given at the León City Council Crafts Centre.
As workshop master he is in charge of practical exercises enabling students to get to know the construction processes involved in joinery and the building of staircases as well as in the making of furniture and various types of roof structure.
TRAINING
He learnt at the León Centro Histórico Trade School, imbibing the know-how and craftsmanship of the master artisan Enrique López García and also the modern view of styled furniture and the application of advanced European trade-teaching techniques introduced by the school’s then director, Francisco Azconegui… Morán.
TEACHING
As well as courses given at the Crafts Centre where he has taught since 1990, he has on many occasions delivered talks and practical courses in institutions such as the Santa Teresa Foundation in Ávila, the Cathedral de Santa María Foundation in Vitoria, the Escuela… de Artes y Oficios Foundation in Bogotá (Colombia), the Complutense University in Alcalá de Henares, the University of Málaga, the Cáceres Official Association of Technical Architects and Building Engineers, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Regional Crafts Centre in Castilla y León (CEARCAL) or the Government of Castilla y León.
SELECTED WORK
Notable among the wooden roof and floor structures and staircases that he has made are:
– Collar-beam roof with interlaced Mudéjar planks and trim for the Romanesque church of Tobera (Álava), 2001
– Collar-beam roof with interlaced Mudéjar planks and trim for a private house, León, 2002
–… Canopy structure decorated with ten-point stars in Mansilla de las Mulas (León province), 2003
– Hip-roof structure with ornamental crossbars and ten-point stars for the tower of the old church of Quintanilla de Rueda (León province), 2004
– Hip-roof structure with ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars, Mollina (Málaga province), 2004
– Roof structure in the western Mudéjar style with twin hip rafters, ornamental crossbars and ten-point stars, modelled on the stepped roof of the former Palace of Enrique II in León, 2005
– Roof structure in the western style with twin hip rafters, ornamental laths and eight-point stars, León, 2006
– 16-sided grid roof structure with five segments, modelled on the roof framework of the presbytery of the church of Otero de Sanabria (Zamora province), León, 2007
– Two-leaf monumental door in the eastern style with ornamental laths and eight-point stars, León, 2007
– Roof structure in the western style with twin hip rafters, ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars, Almagro, 2007
– Wooden ceiling decorated with ten-point stars, León, 2008
– Octagonal collar-beam roof structure with twin hip rafters, ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars, Málaga, 2008
– Hip-truss roof for the community gardens of La Candamia, León, 2008
– Two-flight staircase with a 90º turn and winder steps on a 1:2 scale, León, 2009
– Roof structure in the western style with twin hip rafters, ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars, modelled on the roof framework of the 15th-century Church of San Francisco el Grande in Villafranca del Bierzo, for the hall of the Palace of Canedo in El Bierzo (León province), 2009-10
– Collar-beam roof structure with ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars, Madrid, 2009
– Two-flight staircase with a 90º turn with winder steps on a 1:2 scale, Valladolid, 2009.
– Building of various types of wooden truss on a 1:3 scale, León, 2009
– Two-flight staircase with a 180º turn of winder steps, León, 2010
– Design and building of various types of wooden truss according to the spans to be roofed on a 1:3 scale, Valladolid, 2010
– Wooden truss framework for a gabled roof, León, 2010
– Staircase with winder steps on a turn of 180º at the start and 90º at the end in León, 2011
– Octagonal hip roof with ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars and muqarnas, after the models of Diego López de Arenas, León, 2011
– Stayed collar-beam roof with twin hip rafters, Valladolid, 2011
– Two ornamental wooden ceilings with crosswise beams, León, 2011, and Valladolid, 2012
– Staircase with a 90º rightward turn of winder steps, León, 2012
– Octagonal roof framework with twin hip rafters, ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars, after the models of Diego López de Arenas, León, 2012
– Collar-beam roof structure in the western style with ornamental crossbars and eight-point stars for the church of Robledo de Losada (León province), 2014
– Design and building of a wall plate plus four of the twelve segments of a rounded roof and ceiling framework webbed with ten-point stars, León, 2016
