Gaspare Cusenza

Born in Valderice (Trapani, Italy) in 1945, Gaspare Cusenza opened his atelier in 1970, specialising in the artistic crafting of marble from Valderice, in the Agro Ericino district, where for centuries the quarrying and carving of marble has been one of the main drivers of the local economy.

Mosaic / Stone

In 1990, after twenty years of experience in the sector, he decided to inject new life into the business and hired the master Umberto Crapartotta, an authentic marble artist and expert in traditional chiselling techniques used in the Trapani area, long forgotten by other marble carvers. In the mid-1990s the atelier began specialising in the copying of sculptural styles from the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s.

This change in direction led Cusenza to study and rediscover old techniques and old materials that had fallen into disuse. Thus he rediscovered jasper and the yellow marble of Sicily, known as the “stone of flesh”, and began reworking the Sicilian baroque style, in particular as used in the multicoloured inlays found in churches.

In the years that followed he took on a number of young apprentices to pass on the techniques and secrets of the art of marble carving, in the belief that the difference lies in the human factor and our ability to make use of new technologies to perfect the craftsman’s know-how and modernise styles while maintaining the central importance of the human touch.