Imagine high-end luxury toys: Lapicida company, British specialist in exclusive stone design, now produces facsimiles of automobiles in stone for their clients.
These are not just any cars, or the facsimile from 25,000£ (30,000 €, 41,000 US-$) might end up costing more than the original. These are scaled replicas of cherished vehicles – „the ultimate boy’s toy“, according to a press release. Prices vary according to model and type of stone.
Our photo shows a 250 GTO Ferrari on a 1:3.6 scale in Arabescato marble. The over-all length is 1.20 m at a mere 30,000 £ and can be viewed in London in the company’s showroom.
Larger facsimiles can also be commissioned. Lapicida produces the sculptures with the aid of CNC – the NC1600 by Italian Breton Company – able to reproduce pieces of up to 25 t. Size is restricted by a block of stone from which the piece is to be carved. The CNC-machine runs some 100 hours before the raw version is ready for „several days of stonemasons’ handicraft“ by Lapicida’s specialists.
Yes, we are aware that reproductions of automobiles have been on show before, most recently at Carrara’s Marble Week in 2011, where a life-size 1952 Cadillac was carved out of a single 70 t marble block.
But the British idea has one distinguishing factor: not only an eye-catcher, these pieces have a market value.
Carrara Marble Week: „Cadillac“
Photos: Lapicida
Dresden based stone mason and sculptor Peter Kretzschmar also produced stone sculptures of automotive vehicles ranging from cars to trucks to a GDR-ambulance called Sanka, and even caterpillars.
Bildhauerei Kretzschmar (German)
Photos: Peter Kretzschmar
(09.03.2014, USA: 03.09.2014)
