S.G.F Sculpture workshop
The SGF sculpture workshop was set up in Torano,a village above Carrara,in 1971 by three young stonecutters Silvio Santini,Paolo Grassi and Mario Fruendi and was soon to become a point of reference for sculptors from all around the world.Using the acronym S.G.F,the workshop became known as the "school of Torano",an informal community of artists,sculptors and marble craftsw
orkers who found the right setting to turn their ideas into works of art relying on the professional expertise of the three experienced and brave stonecutters. On finishing their studies they did not know that they would one day be back together in a close working relationships. The three young man went their separate ways for a while,yet were all intent on learning the best sculpting techniques. So the three schoolfriends Santini,Grassi and Fruendi met up again at one of the most prestigious workshop in Carrara where they refined their manual skills in abstract sculpture still further. After about six years(1973) the three decided to set out on their own in the field of artistic sculpture and found an old building on the via Carriona which goes from Ravaccione to Torano. Soon after they set up the S.G.F which is still in the same place on the same road. Over the past forty years the S.G.F workshop has become sculpture workshop with a worldwide reputation where ideas and project by artists,sculptors,engineers and designers are turned into works of art and designer furnishing. Today S.G.F continues to thrive at the fore of the world of contemporary art as Italian and foreign sculptors still rely on the experience and professional expertise of the three partners and their craftsworkers who have been trained in sculpting both abstract and figurative art forms. At the S.G.F workshop the works of the following artists are still made today:Max Bill,Richard Erdman,Jan Dries,Larry Kirkland,Michael Esbin,Julio Silva,Maki Nakamura,Santiago Calatrava,Graziano Pompili,Novello Finotti,Jacob Saeleens(nickname" Kobe"),Eleonore Sachs,Goettfried Honneger,Oscar Schlemmer,Francesca Bernardini,Mary jo Anderson,Roland Baladì,Gino Masciarelli,Peter Schipperhein.
