Sculptures are always realized in a unique and particular way. Each work is accomplished and finished with the precision required by great sculptors and great museums.
There are three main kinds of marble creations: the original work commissioned by the sculptor, the copy commissioned by museums, public corporations, private companies or private citizens and the design.
As far as the work commissioned by a sculptor goes, once this is completed it will become an original work, therefore its successful outcome depends on constant collaboration with the artist.
In this case, the Studio behaves with the marble block exactly as the foundry does with bronze. Everything depends on the artist and his/her model and our skill in getting as near as possible to their methods of working.
The very close rapport of confidence and collaboration that is always established between the artists and the master stone-cutters who work for us, favours the process of realization of the work, thanks not only to the technique of points transposition, but also thanks to the flexibility of processes and techniques, and thanks to our being ready to accept changes and artistic experiments, all of which have enabled us to acquire new techniques and ideas.
This open- mindedness has enabled the Nicoli Studios to survive and grow through two centuries.
As far as copies or reproductions are concerned, there are many examples; it is sufficient to mention our collaboration with the Japanese Hakone Open Air Museum. The management of the Museum wanted to embellish its park with great sculptures. Thus the idea of creating real size copies of all of Michelangelo's masterpieces.
The very high ability of our craftsmen enabled us to create copies which were so similar to the originals, that it was necessary to alter our copies slightly in order to obtain permission from the Vatican to export them.
Instead, when the realization of a sculpture specially studied for a particular place or event is concerned, according to the needs and detailed descriptions of the customer, Nicoli Studios avail of designers, clay modellers and plaster cast moulders who are able to plan all the work, from the drawing phase to the clay modelling and plaster cast moulding. All that remains, therefore, is to make the marble sculpture.
The main characteristic of Nicoli Studios is, therefore, the certainty of a very high artistic level of workmanship of stone (marble, travertine, granite), so that whether we are dealing with copies of famous statues or with funeral monuments, a very high artistic level is always guaranteed.
Our high degree of specialization in artistic workmanship comes from our two-century-old experience of the qualities and defects of the raw material, which enables us to exploit the technical and aesthetic features of it, thanks mainly to the irreplaceable and strictly manual skills which are handed down from one generation to the next.
Thus the specialized craftsmen who work here are the custodians of a knowledge and insight which has rendered them unique in the world for their ability.
