This beautiful glacial boulder was to be exhibited at Frieze Art Fair in London.  The client (Almine Rech Gallery) commissioned us to carve/engrave a recessed lettering design into the piece, with the words of the American poet and Artist John Giorno inscribed. 

 

The 2 tonne boulder was to remain in its natural state with the letters retaining their original line and form even where undulations and inclusions occurred in the stone.  Glacial boulders are very hard and difficult to carve so we experimented with various techniques.  The challenge was to cut the letters so they were bold and legible whilst keeping the thinner raised areas of stone between each letter robust and weather proof. 

 

After various trial letters and a continuing dialogue with the client we ended up using a mixture of diamond bur ginders, pneumatic chisels, all finished by hand with Granite chisels. Due to the heavy undulations and irregular surface of the stone we had to tailor the depth of the carving for each individual letter in order to achieve harmony in the overall composition.